Hans J Marter

28 April, 2008

SHETLAND Islands Council wants to scrap all fares on its nine inter island ferry routes and is calling on the Scottish Government to pay for it.

The council and the islands’ transport partnership ZetTrans will present their case to the Scottish Parliament's ferry inquiry when it visits the isles today (Monday).

Shetland also wants central government to help pay for replacing ageing ferries and terminals which could cost as much £250 million over the next 30 years.

The chairman of the council's inter island ferries board, Robert Henderson, said abolishing ferry fares would be logical after the SNP administration dropped all bridge tolls in Scotland.

"Our ferries are our bridges and I feel very strongly that we should be entitled to the same perks as folk in central Scotland,” Mr Henderson said.

"I feel it is central government who should pay for that because it is them who are picking up the tap for taking off the tolls from the bridges. They should pay to reimburse the council for the ferry fares.”

At the moment drivers pay £7.80 for a return ticket on the isles' ferries with passengers paying an additional £3.30, bringing in an annual income of £1.4 million towards the overall running cost of £8 million.

Mr Henderson said Shetland's most fragile communities would benefit greatly if the government paid the extra £1.4 million needed to make free ferry fares a reality.

Yell community council chairman Dan Thompson added that Shetland's small island communities feared they could be cut off as the local authority struggled to pay for the upkeep of their transport links.

"There is general concern about the ageing ferry fleet. There hasn't been a replacement programme for a number of years with exception of the Yell ferries and Skerries one,” Mr Thompson said.

"Most of the ferries are very old and there is big concern. We also need a replacement programme for ferry terminals especially at Bluemull Sound and on the Whalsay service.

"I don't see any alternative to central government paying for this unless the islands are to be cut off. The local authority can't pay for it."

ZetTrans will also call for the government to investigate providing larger ferries to the Scottish mainland using a different port from Aberdeen.

The ferry inquiry, chaired by Patrick Harvie MSP, will host a public meeting in Lerwick Town Hall on Monday afternoon. The inquiry intends to publish its finding in the summer.