Why is it so hard to get a bike on a ferry? Plus Strava's 'Weekly Snapshot' row on the road.cc Podcast

Did a return trip to Fr from Dover last summer.  Got charged a packet extra for bikes.  Ferry had no capacity for bikes at all - just stacked them up (literally) in a room off the car deck.  Pedals through wheels, paint and chunks of carbon flying everywhere, and they made everyone carry ALL of their luggage up a ludicrous tiny staircase.  We're fit, youngish and had packed fairly light, but the tourers getting on a bit nearly died. Total and utter goat-shag from start to finish.  Didn't even get a reply to our complaint letter, needless to say.  Brittany Ferries now known as Shitonme Ferries, which sums it up.

It was a freight ferry with no foot passenger access.

End

Of

Story.

Can we please stop giving these losers more attention?  They'd be just the same kind of people who would try to cycle up the vehicle ramp, slip, hurt themselves and sue.

Im really not interested.

Worth noting - although it's a few years since I've used them - that CalMac, serving the numerous islands on Scotland's west coast are good with bikes. It's getting to the best time of year (Spring) for an island-hopping tour

I would like to read this in a text format. I don't listen to podcasts. Can you please make a proper article that summarizes the audio content. Thanks.

I've taken the Stenaline Ferry from Craigryan to Belfast and back before with a bike, around 2016 or so. No issues then. Those ferries do take "foot passengers", but cyclist goes up the vehicle ramp along with the cars.

I don't know of any differences in the ramp and car decks of ferries on services that take foot passengers and ones on services that do not. If they can allow bicycles on the former, they can allow it on the latter.

Sounds like bureaucrats being stupidly officious.

I've only once taken a bike on a ferry (other than on the roof of a car) - it wasn't planned and it was very straightforward.  We were coming back from the Isle of Wight last year.  An earlier ferry had had some sort of a mechanical issue so the ferries were running late and there was a backlog.  As a result, they were using an extra deck on the car deck, and therefore couldn't take over-height vehicles - including a car with the bike on the roof.  We were given the simple choice of waiting for a later ferry or me taking the bike on separately.  Obviously we chose the latter and it was all perfectly straightforward.