Transport / Scottish Government announces 10 per cent ferry fare hike from January
Councillor Moraig Lyall expressed her disappointment and called for ‘serious progress’ on the capacity issue
FARES on the NorthLink ferry services between Lerwick, Kirkwall and Aberdeen are set to be hit with a 10 per cent rise from January.
Transport minister Fiona Hyslop announced the rise, which she acknowledged would be “unwelcome”, in a letter to Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston today (Monday).
She said the rise would take effect from 1 January 2025.
Chair of the council’s transport and environment committee Moraig Lyall described the news as “upsetting for many in our community” and added that the fares were already at an level that makes travelling south regularly unaffordable.
Hyslop said this was “a necessary action to enable continued investment in new vessels”, and to ensure the ferry services remained sustainable.
“We froze ferry fares for 2023-24 instead of a 9.1 per cent inflationary increase in order to help people, businesses and communities at the height of the cost of living crisis, and to continue to recover from the impact of the pandemic,” she said.
“However, doing so meant that government effectively bore the loss of revenue in the longer term.
“In the current fiscal climate that loss, at £10 million a year, is too challenging to continue.
“Reluctantly, we are having to raise ferry fares in the coming year by 10 per cent, bringing fare levels back to around what they would have been had fares not been frozen in 2023-24.”
Halcro Johnston strongly criticised the increase, calling it “a disappointment to many island residents” and an “extra burden” on their communities.
“I am also aware of the frustrations many people still have with some parts of the service – pressure on cabin capacity and the pod lounges to name just two – and I hope real solutions can be found to address these and any other concerns,” he said.
Lyall said: “It is also disappointing to note that the increase comes into effect three months earlier in the Northern Isles than on the west coast where they already have the advantage of RET rates.
“I acknowledge that we benefited from frozen fares for a number of years but at a time when family finances are tighter then this will add additional pressure.
“If Transport Scotland are asking more for the service then we need to begin to see some serious progress with addressing the capacity issues, with finance put in place for the new freighter flex vessels which are expected to provide additional cabins and car space.”
Orkney MSP Liam McArthur added: “This fare hike will come as a serious blow to households and businesses in Orkney who rely on these lifeline services and who continue to struggle with cost of living pressures.
“When the Scottish Government ‘froze’ fares last year, ministers congratulated themselves for having protected island communities. At no time did they suggest that their generosity would be clawed back in future years through an inflation-busting increase.
“People in Orkney will rightly be suspicious of future ‘gifts’ from ministers who appear to be happy to give with one hand, and take away with the other.
“On ferry routes which still don’t enjoy the benefits of Road Equivalent Tariff, these further cost increases just add salt to the wound for people in Orkney”.
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