RET - at last some proposals
Buried in the small print of the budget is a commitment to fund an RET pilot. (Page 91 of the document or 98 of the pdf).
That's the good news.
The budget is £5m for 2008/09, £7.5m for 2009/10 and £10m for 2010/11. That will barely cover the Stornoway-Ullapool service and not much beyond which strongly suggests that full RET is not scheduled until the next Parliament.
CalMac made a loss of £4.5m in 2006 for the Stornoway-Ullapool route which equates to income of (I guess) about £9m and costs of £13.5m. As fares will fall from about £100 per car to about £20, the subsidy required for this route is £7.2m, and that is before the increase in traffic that RET should generate. And the new ferry we will need to meet that demand.
That's the good news.
The budget is £5m for 2008/09, £7.5m for 2009/10 and £10m for 2010/11. That will barely cover the Stornoway-Ullapool service and not much beyond which strongly suggests that full RET is not scheduled until the next Parliament.
CalMac made a loss of £4.5m in 2006 for the Stornoway-Ullapool route which equates to income of (I guess) about £9m and costs of £13.5m. As fares will fall from about £100 per car to about £20, the subsidy required for this route is £7.2m, and that is before the increase in traffic that RET should generate. And the new ferry we will need to meet that demand.
4 comments:
Despite this being a devolved matter, Mr Angus has made a statement on behalf of his pet MSP making excessive claims on the sums allocated, just like the discredited Mr Morrison used to.
The strange phrase "private words within the SNP" implies that the policy commitment was only reinstated with special pleading.
Poor choice of treminology there Angus. The RET announcement has the same prominence as all the other announcements and appears in the section dealing with transport, that's hardly 'buried in the small print' is it?
If you were my accountant I would be worried at the way you have tossed out a number of inaccurate figures. According to the CalMac website a car from Stornoway to Ullapool is £59 and as cars rarely move without a driver we can add on that cost making the total £71.45 or £71 for ease of calculation (and nowhere near £100). That works out at £1.39 per mile. If RET was introduced at 50p per mile the journey cost would be around £25 near enough one third of the cost. As the loss on the route includes the cost of running the 'Olympic Flame' it is difficult to transfer direct comparisons but once the grant is in place any increase in traffic is surely profitand if Almo had retained the seat and Labour hade the one MSP advantage there would not even be £5m set aside for RET. Which is better. some RET or no RET?
Have to take the positives from this as it means some form of RET fares on Western Isles routes from next year. Unless Lewis & Harris are excluded from the pilot extra capacity will be needed which should mean Sunday sailings to Lewis and Harris.
the way you have tossed out a number of inaccurate figures
S where did you come up with 50ppm? I do believe that the official Inland revenue mileage rate is 40ppm.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/travel.htm
that cost making the total £71.45
If there is only one person in the car but I thought this policy was to attract tourism, which means there is likely to be at least 2 people in the car making the total cost around £100 or the number Angus first thought of.
So who is plucking numbers out of the air now?
Your days of trying to discredit Angus are numbered, roll on the next few months and we will see who is very publicly discredited and rightly so
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