‘End cheap fares for camper vans’
IT was introduced to make ferry travel cheaper and boost visitor numbers to Scotland’s remotest islands.
But now the architect of the Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) scheme is calling for it to be overhauled amid fears its introduction has left many islands’ infrastructure struggling to cope with the rise in visitors.
RET bases fares on the cost of travelling the equivalent distance by road and was introduced on the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree in October 2008, cutting fares by up to 55 per cent. It was extended to Islay, Colonsay and Gigha in October 2012, to Arran in October 2014 and now covers every route.
Across the network, car traffic has risen just over 25%, causing problems as islanders struggle to book ferries and increased traffic contends with many single-track roads.
Now transport expert Roy Pedersen, who spent 30 years in Highlands and Islands Development Board and devised the scheme in the 1970s, says it should be reformed, with some vehicles exempt from receiving it altogether.
He said: “I was the original architect of RET and its application has generated additional traffic that has taxed the capacity of many existing routes.
“RET is a very blunt instrument and rather out of tune with modern yield management practices.
“In a number of cases the fare subsidy to tourists travelling on Clyde and Hebrides services is greater than the spend of tourists on the island communities visited where accommodation is in many cases already at, or beyond, capacity.
“Policies worth considering for addressing this issue are higher fares on peak tourist services, no RET on camper vans whose users contribute little to island economies, and certainly no RET on commercial vehicles.” Last year, Calmac carried more than five million passengers, nearly 1.5 million cars, some 80,000 coaches, and just under one million metres of commercial traffic.
The number of motorhomes travelling to the Western Isles has risen over the past decade, with nearly 2,000 going to Harris alone.
The rise has led to calls that motorhome users should face a levy on ferries and comes after a summer of disruption across the network due to breakdowns
How the network is run in the future is under scrutiny, with many islanders calling for more vessels with increased capacity.
Mr Pedersen lodged proposals to MSPS that would see the current model of serving island communities ripped up and instead will be based on the Norwegian system of smaller ferries covering shorter routes.
The move aims to increase capacity with more ferries and, in some cases, journeys being broken up using islands as “land bridges”’ to reduce journey times. It would see islanders in the Outer Hebrides able to do business on the mainland in a day and return home without an overnight stay.
Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for the Islands, said: “RET has delivered significant ferry fare reductions to the Clyde and Hebrides, leading to a welcome boost in carryings that supports our island and remote communities.
“Transport Scotland has recently commissioned a full network-wide evaluation of RET that will examine its successes but also any negative impacts in terms of creating capacity constraints. The evaluation is due at the end of 2019 and the findings will be considered in due course.”