THE Scottish Government's flagship ferry fare scheme will end up costing passengers more, a transport group claims today.
Savings from the scheme, which is due to operate on all Caledonian MacBrayne routes by 2015, will be more than wiped out by ticket price rises, according to the ferry operator's private-sector rival, Western Ferries.
In its submission to the consultation on the Scottish Government's draft ferry plan, Western said the policy on procurement of vessels, managing port facilities and the loss of multi-ticketing would result in fares rising.
Western said that despite the flagship Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) scheme, the ferry user would soon be paying more.
Western operates the only car ferry between Gourock and Dunoon, after CalMac decided last year that the publicly-owned company should only offer a passenger service on the route, given the presence of an unsubsidised rival.
The profitable Western is known to be ambitious to run more commercial car ferry services to the likes of Arran. Its managing director, Gordon Ross, has long argued that public subsidy should only be given to routes that are not commercially viable – to the likes of Colonsay, Tiree and Coll.
In its submission, Western argues the taxpayer and passengers would be better served by the CalMac network being broken up to allow competition.
The firm states: "This consultation paper seems to indicate that the Scottish Government prefers to see the continuance and market domination by the state-owned company irrespective of the public cost or the service to the islands."
The RET pilot delivered 50% savings in fares to the Western Isles and to Coll and Tiree. However, Western is convinced its extension to other routes to the Hebrides and on the Clyde will not produce the same results. This is because of a policy of building new high-spec vessels for CalMac and ministers' goal of trying to make port facilities self-supporting.
Western believes the latter can only be achieved either through increased subsidy or higher harbour dues – which only subsidised operators will be able to afford.
The roll-out of RET will also mean the loss of multi-journey tickets, which Western says will add to the administrative burden on ticketing staff. It says the operator will lose the cash-flow advantage of pre-paid tickets, which will also in time push up the cost of the service.
Western's submission goes on: "Unless there are fundamental changes to the way that the ferry services are tendered, delivered, operated and managed, the proposals contained within the Consultation Paper will significantly increase the cost of providing these services. Given the current pressure on public finances and the proposal to link fare increases to the future cost of travel, it looks as if the increased burden will squarely fall on those who depend on subsidised ferry services.
"The 2012 fare increase was 6.5%, as such well above current inflation rates. Given the contents of this Paper and a reluctance to make significant changes to the delivery of ferry services, larger increases can be expected in the future. Therefore any reductions in fare levels associated with a network-wide RET roll-out will quickly disappear through fare increases."
Meanwhile, Western says it is hard to reconcile the draft plan's environmental aim of reducing ferry emissions – while rolling out RET, which would promote greater car usage – and increasing the frequency of sailings.
It also observes: "The Scottish Government has ruled out any reductions to service speeds, perhaps one of the most effective methods to cut emissions."
Transport Scotland said: "We will take into account all views as part of this consultation. As a Government we are absolutely determined and committed over the next decade to delivering improved ferry services, and the draft Ferries Plan focuses on the things that we know matter most to our communities."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article