Written Question · S5W-20718 · Session 5
What the annual economic impact on (a) Orkney and (b) Shetland has been of reduced fares on ferry services.
The question
To ask the Scottish Government what the annual economic impact on (a) Orkney and (b) Shetland has been of reduced fares on ferry services.
The answer
Scottish Ministers remain committed to pursuing all avenues to deliver Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) ferry fares for Orkney and Shetland. However, an official State aid complaint was made to the European Commission on 8 June 2018, which has to be dealt with first.
On 30 June 2018, a 20% reduction of passenger and car fares was implemented on ferry services to Shetland, which is the most that can be done until the complaint is resolved. It is not currently possible to reduce ferry fares to Orkney.
The April 2018 Northern Isles STAG report considered the potential demand, capacity and socio-economic impacts of RET, and set out proposals for monitoring and evaluation. The intention is to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of reduced fares in due course, similar to the evaluations on the Clyde & Hebrides network, once the position on future fare levels is clear.
On 30 June 2018, a 20% reduction of passenger and car fares was implemented on ferry services to Shetland, which is the most that can be done until the complaint is resolved. It is not currently possible to reduce ferry fares to Orkney.
The April 2018 Northern Isles STAG report considered the potential demand, capacity and socio-economic impacts of RET, and set out proposals for monitoring and evaluation. The intention is to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of reduced fares in due course, similar to the evaluations on the Clyde & Hebrides network, once the position on future fare levels is clear.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S5W-20718 by reference.