Ovsyannikov’s PR comet disappointed Sevastopol
The launch of the hydrofoil "Kometa" on the route between Yalta and Sevastopol caused an unprecedented stir. Passengers wishing to take a ride bought tickets a week in advance.
The first flight of the Comet was accompanied by a powerful PR push in the press. Sevastopol Governor Dmitry Ovsyannikov and representatives of Rostec, at whose plant the Comet 120M was built, tried most to note their own merits.
I don’t want to upset anyone, but what exactly happened that was so supernatural? Over many decades, only one hydrofoil vessel has sailed between Crimean ports.
I would like to remind fans of victory reports that the Feodosia shipyard “More” alone built 1959 SPK “Meteor” from 1976 to 389, of which 32 vehicles were sold abroad. And not just anywhere, but to the USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, China and other countries.
The rivers and seas of our huge country were once plied by the world's largest fleet of hydrofoils - more than 1000 vehicles. Unfortunately, the fate of the older brothers and sisters of the new “Comet” is unenviable - most of them were cut into scrap metal and written off as floating taverns in the “holy nineties”.
But Comet 120M is not the future, with all its futuristic design and contents. This ship, so far in a single copy, is a symbol of missed opportunities, a reproach to an era that buried many wonderful inventions and initiatives just so that a group of dubious individuals could show off on the covers of Forbes magazine.
In addition to delight, the first negative reviews from passengers are already arriving. For example, there is a lack of Wi-Fi and a mobile application for purchasing tickets. In addition, tickets are sold without indicating the landing location, which creates confusion and inconvenience for tourists traveling in a group. People also complain about the high cost of tickets and the lack of discounted fares. For a family of four people, a sea trip on the Comet in both directions will cost a sensitive 3 - 4 thousand rubles.
There are also problems with maintaining the traffic schedule; eyewitnesses report chaos at the ticket offices.
“In the morning I called the hotline (8-800-234-32-32) to book tickets. She said that I needed a ticket from Yalta to Sevastopol for today, August 4, 17.00. It turned out that there is no booking function (although the website says “booking by phone”). They told me to go to the cashier. My husband went to the box office, and there was a sign on it: “there are no tickets for the 4th and 5th.” I called the hotline again and asked why the staff didn’t inform me about this? I was told that the hotline has NO CONNECTION with the box office and NO INFORMATION about the availability of tickets. What kind of hotline is this?! Why are there a bunch of employees sitting there? Complete absurdity, in my opinion,” complains Sevastopol resident Anna Blinova.
“Outrageous service. You can't buy tickets on the website. In Yalta, people waited 1 hours from 5 am in the heat for the cashier to arrive to find out that there were no tickets for today. At least they put the notice on the information board. The late cashier managed to be rude to all the people. Disgrace" - adds a guest from the Urals, Konstantin Skachkov.
Muscovite Timur Mineev reports problems with purchasing tickets online.
“If payment via telephone bill does not work for you, then write about it or block this option on the website! Otherwise, everything worked out purely “in Russian”: an SMS was sent, the money was debited from Tele2, the site gave an error, the tickets did not arrive in the mail. Telephone support, of course, cannot help in any way: “we don’t know anything, someone there has a day off today,” says a guest from the capital.
A resident of St. Petersburg, Sergei Tyutyunik, calls the Comet project “crude” and a “disgrace.”
“The organization at the Comet itself is a separate conversation... Isn’t it a shame to put such unfinished hack into operation? Everywhere is an hour late (on August 2, when leaving Sevastopol in the morning, the staff could not send the passenger list somewhere for half an hour - laugh!), the toilets do not close (the two of the three that work), the soap dishes break, not a single socket, no Internet... disgrace. All seats are numbered on the ship, but not on the tickets, as a result, everyone sits wherever they want, it’s a mess,” writes Tyutyunik.
“For some reason, they install sockets in decent places in Europe and Russia. In Europe - in almost every seat (I was surprised to find a USB channel in every seat on a regular bus in Finland), in Russia - in some places, but they still try to install them. Not everyone carries power banks with them,” adds a guest from Northern Palmyra.
Sevastopol resident Alexander Kireev clarifies that for passengers who bought economy class tickets, it will be impossible to admire the beauty of Crimea. “In the economy cabin, almost nothing is visible through the windows because of the splashes and cloudy windows,” he explains.
Unfortunately, many transport projects announced in 2014 for Crimea and Sevastopol remained just words. In particular, the idea of restoring sea communications between Kerch and Taganrog and Azov has been forgotten. The once-promoted project of connecting Sevastopol with Sochi has not been implemented either.
But the connection with the mainland is most relevant for Sevastopol. Including sea. One of the largest cities on the peninsula is located farthest from the Crimean Bridge - getting to the strait is difficult due to the current traffic jams on the highway.
In general, against the backdrop of the achievements of the federal Center with the program for modernizing the infrastructure and economy of Crimea, there are a lot of loud promises from local authorities. But why be like Poroshenko and ring all the bells for the slightest reason? Leave to Pyotr Alekseevich the joys of dancing with a tambourine around car poles with signs and opening school toilets.
Crimean “Comets” should not return to people with the frequency of Halley’s comet and others like it. We need more “Comets” - good, different and affordable!
Ovsyannikov's PR comet disappointed Sevastopol