Marseille

The Frioul archipelago located some 4 km from Marseille is a historic and popular destination primarily due to the Château d'If, the setting for Alexander Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo. The transit authority needed to improve the service reliability, punctuality, passenger information and the customer service experience while maintaining high safety standards. In addition, the transit authority wanted the ferry service to be an integrated community partner that actively supported the local community by promoting the archipelago and the service as an important tourist destination.

The assignment of the transit authority partner
was to implement a comprehensive improvement
program.

• Develop schedules/timetables that cater to different user expectations and fulfil the concession contractual commitments.
• Service reliability to meet the needs of the local community.
• Measure service quality by conducting annual satisfaction surveys.

• Introduced schedule/timetable flexibility with increased number of round-trips depending on seasonal demand and local events, including flexible services at peak seasons to improve capacity.
• Introduction of three new identical vessels which have been especially designed and built for the service that are:
  > accessibility compliant according to EU-directives;
  > environmentally sustainable generating no water pollution and air pollution rates that are lower than the emission standards;
  > equipped with LCD-flat screens for passenger information and security messages during the journey.
• Installed new boarding docks equipped with lights, electricity and water pump stations to create a more customer friendly atmosphere and optimized embarking and disembarking of passengers.
• Improved customer service by providing multilingual customer service staff, an Information Center with generous hours of operation, a dedicated Call Center available every day of the week, and a new and improved website.
• Installed real-time information displays on the dock to inform customers about departures and travel conditions.
• Disseminated service information including schedules and tariffs to the local community including businesses, clubs, associations, hostels, Château d'If staff, tourism centers.
• Established partnerships with the local community and joint marketing campaigns to increase awareness of the service and to attract new customers.