Aberdeen South & North Kincardine Liberal Democrats

Scott slams government on its determination to keep RET pilot going until the next election

The answer to a Liberal Democrat parliamentary question shows that the lower fares on the ferry routes covered by the Road Equivalent pilot are drawing traffic away from other island routes.

Shetland MSP, Tavish Scott, has renewed his call for the pilot to be scrapped and its funding to be used to cut fares on all ferry routes.

After Scottish Ministers boasted in August that passenger numbers were up by 14% and car traffic by 23%, on the RET pilot routes, when compared to the same period the previous year, Tavish Scott wrote to the Transport Minister. He argued that this showed that, as expected, lower fares attract more traffic. He also argued that there was no further point in continuing the pilot and that the pilot's funding should be used instead to cut fares on all ferry routes. The Minister has now replied, rejecting this suggestion and stating that the RET pilot will run, as planned, until May 2011.Tavish Scott MSP: Shetland

Meanwhile, the answer to a parliamentary question tabled by Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, shows that the islands not served by ferries included in the Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) pilot are losing out when compared to the Western Isles. Liam McArthur's parliamentary question was tabled after the traffic increases on the pilot routes were made public and asked for the comparative figures for the NorthLink and Calmac ferry services not included in the pilot.

The answer shows that, on the NorthLink Services, the changes in passenger numbers range from a 1.6% drop on the Kirkwall to Lerwick service to a 5.7% increase on the Aberdeen to Lerwick service, well below the 14% growth on the RET services. And the difference was even more dramatic for car numbers which dropped on all NorthLink services, the lowest drop, 1.5%, being on the Aberdeen to Lerwick service and the largest being a 14.5% drop on the Kirkwall to Lerwick service. This is clear evidence that, as expected, many tourists with cars are choosing to take the lower cost trips to the Western Isles rather than coming to Orkney or Shetland.

The figures for the Calmac services not covered by the pilot showed that they were also largely losing out, the only crossings with increases approaching the RET pilot increases being the low volume service to Lismore and the ferry from Barra to Eriskay, which has no doubt benefited from the extra tourists coming to the Western Isles using this internal service.

The services to Islay and Colonsay from Kennacraig on the Mull of Kintyre have been particularly hard hit, passenger and car numbers being down 11% and 14% respectively, showing that the concerns raised in the Argyll islands about the RET pilot were justified.

The parliamentary answer also shows that, while freight has increased on the RET pilot routes by an average of 2%, it has dropped on all but two of the other routes by up to 34%. One of the exceptions was a 28.4 % increase on NorthLink's Pentland Firth route, no doubt the result of long periods over the winter when the rival Pentland Ferries service was not running.

Commenting on the figures, Tavish Scott said,

"I am concerned by these figures but not a bit surprised. When this pilot scheme was announced, excluded islanders from Shetland to Argyll warned that this would happen. The high growth in traffic to the Western Isles compared to elsewhere shows that tourists wanting to visit Scottish islands have voted with their wallets and chosen the cheaper option. The result is that the Shetland tourist industry has lost out. And the growth in freight on the Western Isles routes, when it has fallen on just about every other service, shows that other island businesses have been hit while those on the Western Isles have thrived.

"The pilot has already proved what everyone knew it would prove. It should be stopped and the funding used to cut fares on all routes because it no longer serves a useful function - unless of course you are one of the favoured users of the Western Isles ferry services. The Minister's determination to continue to keep the pilot running until just after the next Scottish Election just shows that it is not really a pilot, it's a political bribe to voters in an SNP marginal constituency."

Notes;

Full text of parliamentary question and its answer:

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the start and finish dates were of the Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) pilot for which its news release of 3 August 2009 reported a 14% increase in passenger numbers and 23% increase in car traffic on the CalMac Ferries Ltd operated services to the Western Isles and what the percentage increase or decrease in (a) passengers, (b) cars and (c) freight was for the same time period on each of the ferry routes operated by CalMac Ferries Ltd or NorthLink Ferries not covered by the RET pilot.(S3W-26480)

Mr Stewart Stevenson :

The period over which the early results of the Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) were reported and monitored was 1 October 2008 to 30 June 2009. The comparison was with the period 1 October 2007 to 30 June 2008. The pilot commenced on 19 October 2008.

On the RET routes the change in the number of commercial vehicle ranged from 0.9% to 9% with an average increase of 2%. The following tables set out the percentage increases/decreases for the non-RET routes on the ferry services operated by CalMac Ferries Ltd and NorthLink Ferries Ltd.