THE PILOT scheme for cheaper ferry fares to the islands has been branded as ‘inequitable’ amidst a call for the Argyll islands to be included.
At the start of the March meeting of the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islands Area Committee held in Campbeltown members called for Argyll and Bute Council to make strong representation to the Scottish Government, as a matter of urgency, that the Argyll islands also be included.
And politicians from opposition parties have got stuck into the Scottish government plan to slash ferry fares by up to half on all Western Isles routes to the mainland saying the experiment does not go far enough and include all islands.
A new pilot scheme was unveiled by transport minister Stewart Stevenson; a road equivalent tariff scheme (RET) will replace the current fares during the 30-month trial period. Routes for the initial pilot study will be: Ullapool to Stornoway, Uig to Tarbert, Uig to Lochmaddy, Oban to Castlebay, Oban to Lochboisdale and one Argyll and Inner Hebrides route, Oban to Coll and Tiree. Cars and small vehicles will be charged a flat fee of £5 plus 60p per mile, passengers £2 plus 10p per mile.
To put that in perspective, the summer 2008 fare to Gigha, which is less than a mile, is £10.55 one way for a car and £2.88 per passenger; for Islay, a longer route, it is £45 and £8.45 respectively.
Mr Stevenson said: ‘Expensive fares can be damaging to our local economies and this Scottish government wants to take action.’
Alan Reid, Liberal Democrat MP for Argyll and Bute, has called on the Scottish Government to extend the scheme to all other ferry routes long before the pilot is due to end in Spring 2011.
Mr Reid was speaking after visiting Mull where islanders fear they will lose tourists and other business opportunities to the islands included in the cheap ferry fares pilot scheme.
Mr Reid said that he was pleased that two islands in his constituency Tiree and Coll had been added to the islands that will benefit from the cheap fares.
‘But it is an outrage that the other islands and peninsulas in Argyll and Bute will have to wait two-and-a-half years to see any possible benefits. It is obvious that islands not in the pilot will lose tourists and other business opportunities to the islands that are included in it. This is blatant discrimination against many of my constituents.’
He also called for ‘much more’ to be spent on advertising the islands left out of the scheme to give them a chance to compete for tourists with those islands with cheaper fares.
‘The SNP Government must end this discrimination against Argyll and Bute and allow us to benefit too from cheaper fares,’ he said.
Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP is to raise the matter at Question Time in the Scottish Parliament.
He welcomed the concept: ‘Many of my constituents who use the routes that are going to be in the pilot will be very pleased that they are going to see fares fall.’
But he added: ‘It seems to me that there are some glaring omissions in the scheme, particularly in relation to some of the key Argyll routes. Why have Ministers decided to exclude Mull, Bute, Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Dunoon from their pilot? No explanation has been given for this and I am sympathetic to my constituents in these areas who feel not only left out but concerned that they will now be at a competitive disadvantage.’
Former MSP George Lyon has returned to the fray after being ousted from his Argyll and Bute seat at the last Holyrood election by Jim Mather and is now standing at the next European elections for the Lib Dems.
He said this pilot scheme was ‘an absolute outrage’ and ‘blatant discrimination’
‘It appears the only reason that Coll and Tiree are to get some benefit is because the Barra boat just happens to stop off there en-route,’ he said.
‘Local MSP Jim Mather made all sorts of promises to island communities about cutting fares before the election and yet despite the fact he is a senior Government Minister working in the same department as his colleague Stewart Stevenson MSP the Transport Minister, he has completely and utterly failed to persuade him that Argyll should get equal treatment and a fair share of this £22million pilot project.’
Jim Mather has said he would have liked to see more of the routes in Argyll and Bute included.
But he said he had been told there were ‘sound and informed reasons’ for choosing the Western Isles, not Argyll for the pilot.
‘’This is part of a wider process to open up access and make remote communities more competitive.’
*What do you think? Should Gigha and Islay have had their fares slashed too?
How about a similar low price for fares on the Campbeltown-Ballycastle route when it begins again to help get it off to a good start? Write and let us know.
