Cal Mac chief Martin Dorchester has told the 'News' that he is flexible at looking at extra sailings being added to the ferry timetable if the need should arise and it makes business sense.
At present, the Cumbrae ferry users group is in talks about providing an earlier 6.30am sailing for commuters to beat the rush-hour traffic in Glasgow, and an earlier sailing on a Sunday at 8.30am.
In the second part of our exclusive interview with the chief executive of the David MacBrayne group, Martin said: "If someone comes to us, for the benefit of the island and businesses, and says if you did something different, we would look at that. We are trying to encourage younger people to go to the islands after launching a new advertising campaign, and we are aiming to support businesses, so we are willing to take a look at any suggestions which come forward."
Martin was also enthusiastic about supporting festivals and major events on islands, and said: "We firmly believe in the creative arts and help to generate sound business economies - part of our strategy is supporting growth and development on islands, and help to generate sound business economies."
And with Cal Mac currently bidding for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry contract for the next eight years, one of the main submission aims to provide more variation in travel following the launch of RET (Road Equivalent Tariff) resulting in cheaper ferry travel.
He said: "We want more people travelling by other methods other than car. We want to make it easier for cyclists, and one of the things we are doing is getting better involved with Abellio (trains) and McGills coaches to see what we can do together better and make things work, and make the all round experience for people travelling to islands easier."
Another aspect which will help in that regard is the introduction of smart ticketing. 
Martin explained: "The plan would be for some online ticketing so you can print your tickets at home, and we are looking more wider with other operators to see how we can get everything on one ticket, and be more sensible and pragmatic."
Cal Mac is also an important employers in the area, and Martin believes that improvements to the ticketing process will allow the ferry company to provide improved customer service.
He said: "As an employer, we have grown over the last four years from 1300 to 1500 employees. If I get staff out from behind a counter screen, and out speaking to tourists about the places they can visit, where they can hire bikes from, etc, then it is a different conversation. It is about how we can deploy the skills better of the people we have got.
"We tend to get busy when the boat comes in, and then it is quiet, and if we could have our people out transacting with more people rather than behind a counter, then that has to be a good thing."
"Over the course of the next eight years I believe we will grow our employment numbers with the use of more technology playing an important part in that."
Cal Mac is vying with Serco for the contract for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry fleet.
Following a visit to Millport during a tour of west coast islands, Serco BID director Jonathan Riley said: "There were some interesting issues raised such as the need for later ferries on Saturdays and throughout the summer months.
"Another point raised was ticketing - things have just changed with the introduction of RET (road equivalent tariff) and people can't buy books of tickets, or tickets on the island - these are all issues which we are looking into."