Pete Bevington

20 June, 2007

FREE ferry fares to Shetland's remote isles as well as fare cuts for commuters and free crossings for pensioners in cars are all on the agenda with the local council's new ferries board.

Yesterday (Tuesday) saw the first meeting of Shetland Island Council's inter island ferries board under its new chairman Robert Henderson, who wasted no time outlining his vision of a new service.

Raising fears of an exodus of young people from the isles due to the cost of reaching the Shetland mainland, Mr Henderson laid out a series of suggestions he wanted the council to investigate.

His ideas included free fares to and from Foula, Fair Isle, Skerries and Papa Stour; allowing all pensioners free ferry travel in their vehicles; and reducing the rate for regular commuters.

Other requests included changing the way freight vehicles and fuel tankers were charged.

The new members also called for reports highlighting the income and expenditure of the ferry service, in a bid to find ways to spread the cost of using the service away from the most vulnerable.

Mr Henderson said he was looking for a new "structure" which would encourage young people to stay in the isles "rather than feel they have to move out for a job on the mainland".

SIC head of transport Michael Craigie said most of the councillors' wish list was already being investigated under the islands' new transport strategy.

"The new members are really keen to understand how the service works, what generates the income, how that's split across various users and what types of users generate what type of income," Mr Craigie said.

He said he hoped to get a preliminary report answering the members' questions to the first board meeting after the summer recess.