Transport / No plans to bring bus services in-house
A PROPOSAL from a Green MSP for Shetland Islands Council (SIC) to look at bringing bus services in-house will not be taken up by the local authority.
Ariane Burgess, who represents the Highlands and Islands in the Scottish Parliament, invited the council to apply to the government’s £5 million Scottish Community Bus Fund to support the development of plans for publicly-owned local bus services.
Currently transport partnership ZetTrans, which is primarily financed by the council, puts public bus contracts out to operators.
However, chair of the SIC’s environment and transport committee chair Moraig Lyall said the local authority plans to continue to support the existing operators to “develop and deliver for our communities”.
“We are fortunate in Shetland to currently have a good number of local operators who provide services across the islands,” the councillor said.
“While we are always open to doing things differently, we are not looking to enter the market as a service provider.”
Burgess had said the fund could help the council “through the process of bringing public transport under more public control”.
Meanwhile the council’s head of transport planning and ZetTrans lead officer Michael Craigie said the authority will “continue to accommodate changes in the market” as bus contracts change hands.
He said a “significant number of operators” have exercised the terms of the contract to terminate their contracts.
Councillors were recently told about the shortage of drivers in Shetland, with staff availability a key problem.
Craigie said it “certainly puts demands on staff when we have to tender for services unexpectedly”, but he added that the transport team will continue to accommodate these changes.
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