Lack of free mainland ferry trips ‘completely unfair’ for island youngsters

Transport Scotland has announced that the free ferry travel scheme on inter-island ferries in the Western Isles is to be extended to include young people under 22.

Currently, those aged 19 and younger travel for free on the routes, but the announcement of the extension of that scheme was greeted by councillors with concerns.

However, the announcement fell short of offering free ferry rides for under-22s to the mainland.

Point councillor Norrie MacDonald suggested that the restriction of the scheme to inter-island ferries, “was like saying if you’ve got free trains and buses and you’re living in Glasgow that you can’t go to Edinburgh”.

He added: “Most of our kids want to go to the mainland. It’s not for inter-island fares that this concessionary fare would be a primary benefit, it’s for getting to the mainland. This is just piecemeal.

“We need to expand this for getting to the mainland, for the cost we’re talking about here, for a very small population compared to the free train and bus travel on the mainland.

“This is peanuts. They [young people] want the concessionary fare to get to the mainland, not for inter-island travel.

Replying to Cllr MacDonald, Mr Kenney stated that there were two elements of the proposals for 19 to 21-year-olds: the age extension of the free travel on inter-island ferries and the extension of the four free trip voucher scheme for mainland travel.

Whilst the inter-island scheme is set to go ahead, the extension of the voucher scheme for mainland ferries “is a proposal currently on the table.”

Chris Wilcox, head of the ferries division at Transport Scotland, said that the extension of free ferry travel was something Scottish ministers were “hearing on a number of fronts”.

Hr warned there was “an affordability issue with all of this,” but the issues “was being heard and received by ministers.”

Earlier in the meeting, Mr Wilcox had outlined that there had been “quite an uplift” in the Scottish Government’s funding for the ferries, totalling £100m, and raising the overall budget to £500m.

Cllr MacDonald responded: “I want to make clear you are getting that message loud and clear here.

“When you talk about affordability, we are talking about a very small number of people here compared to the wider free travel schemes Scotland.

“You are talking about a seriously small amount of money here that can make a real difference.”

Cllr MacDonald stated that the cost for an extension of the free ferry scheme for under-22 for mainland trips would be “under £100k.”

The councillor suggested introducing the scheme would be “the biggest opportunity for a PR win that you’re going to get for the cheapest bang for your bucks.”

Stornoway North councillor Gordon Murray described the lack of free ferry fairs for under-22s for travel to the mainland as being “completely unfair to our youngsters.”

He said, “All we want is that our youngsters are treated equally like their mainland counterparts, and especially in terms of sports and competing at events.

“This is a real problem for our youngsters, they are struggling to compete on the mainland, so this is a very important issue, and I get a lot of representation on this issue.”

Cllr Murray added it was his understanding that the likely cost of a roll-out of a free mainland travel scheme for under-22s was in the region of £2m.

This raised the issue of parity with mainland provision in terms of the Scottish Government’s ‘Island Proofing’ process established to ensure ‘fairness, integration, and inclusiveness’ for island communities in government policy-making.

He asked the delegation from Transport Scotland what action they intended to take to ensure the scheme was introduced.

Chris Wilcox said “At the moment, our focus is on bringing in this interim step [on the inter-island ferries]”, however disputed Cllr MacDonald’s claim that the extension of a ferry scheme to the mainland for under-22s would cost less than £100k,

He added: “I think the cost involved, I don’t have them to hand, but bearing in mind this would have to happen in both the Northern Isles and the Western Isles, is substantively more than £100k.

“I think if it was just £100k, we’d be having a very different conversation about this now, but our focus is on bringing in the elements we do have money for in our budgets, but we will reiterate to ministers and colleagues that this very strongly felt.”