Is the RET extension legal?
I think George Lyons has a valid point, but I am not quite sure what the Commission can do, except instruct the removal of the RET pilot or its extension to all routes.An MEP has asked the European Commission to investigate the Scottish government's decision to extend a discount ferry fares scheme pilot.
Is there an election looming, perchance?
13 comments:
lets extend it to all routes - The shetland ferries are so heavily subsidies their ferry fares would increase!!
Who is George Lyons
Re - 10.31
Clearly RET doesn't work for Shetland. It's too far away from the Scottish mainland.
That, however, doesn't mean it's right or fair for their transport budget to be plundered in order to pay for a short-term, politically motivated scheme for those who might just vote SNP.
Such an idea is clearly unwise and divisive. It will be interesting to see how the SNP vote plunges in the Northern Isles, as a result of the behaviour of Mr Stevenson and the Scottish Government.
Is this really to the benefit of the SNP? Not if they want a secure, independent nation in the long term.
10.31pm is absolutely right. RET would increase Shetland's fares. RET would actually have increased Barra and South Uists fares as well so they artificially capped them. They are only 20p less than the previous six journey rate.
This smacks of pure sabre-rattling and does nothing to help. Islands should be fighting together, not against each other.
It's not just Shetland that has been left out. Islay, Mull, Colonsay etc are also excluded as are the Clyde islands. This is unsustainable since the short-term "political fix" undoubtedly discriminates directly against these islands.
Re - Ferrylouper
I agree with you that 'islands should be fighting together, not each other'.
I don't though think George Lyons is wholly responsible for the sabre-rattling that is going on.
Stevenson is the reason for the scrap. He made a daft decision - and all for the sake of one extra year and a passport for Dr Allan to Holyrood.
What's going to happen to the Western Isles tourist trade when all this is over? A feast followed by a famine? Is this decision even in their long-term interest?
You'd think that buying votes was something new.
Ret has not had the desired effect at all ! In the shops and at the fuel pumps nothing has come down in price in fact in past 2 years we have seen a 20 percent increase in our shopping here in South Uist!
The only thing RET has done is to bring people onto the isles with large vehicles and along with Cyclist are a menace on the roads and takes us locals forever to get anywhere between April and September, im looking forward to some peace in next few months !.
So who is making anything out of it ,Calmac /Scottish Goverment recouping what the set out to make a difference ,but Sadly its had the opposite effect,,in other words a 'White Elephant' ,} a Retunn ? no a one way ticket to the Scottish office, think again ,like all socialists your obviously short on Maths and Logic !
RE - 8.05 pm
No, but it's not exactly moral, and rarely as obvious or as aimed at one constituency as in this case.
The routes that did not have RET saw passenger numbers increase too,the islands are benefiting from Calmac's very effective TV adverts but our hauliers did not reduce their charges with cheaper fares.
Motor homes take up more space than commercials but pay only half the fare that commercials pay.Paying the same rates as cars but taking up twice the space.
To remedy this and increase their fare is equitable but to do so might choke off the demand and SNP are desperate to prove RET works and need all traffic as the non-RET routes are up too.
The strength of the Euro has deterred domestic tourism going abroad and the weakness of the £ makes the UK attractive to others.
8.43pm
Mmmmm... now, the contribution with a combination of "socialist", "math(s)", "logic" and "South Uist" leads me somewhere. I suppose the demented negativity just seals the issue.
This is a valid point, the RET was a 3 year trial and then it was to be decided if it was to be rolled out country wide. To just extend it blindly like this is one of 2 things (or both)
1) Trying to buy the SNP seat in the Western Isles.
2) Proof that the SNP administration is so thick they can't work out the success of this trial and they should be rolling it out across every ferry route in the country where it would reduce the fares. However if there are subsidies already in place on other routes that are making them cheaper than the RET would then that is another argument that just highlights that certain communities were been strangled due to the ridiculous fares that were been charged by Calmac.
I'm glad you mentioned the hauliers...before RET they blamed the cost of transport on ferry costs but as ferry prices came down for them they did not pass this on to the customer. Looking after no.1 it's called.
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