RET
The SNP’s plans for Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) for some privileged ferry routes to the Western Isles is a slap in the face for the residents of Cumbrae and the other Clyde islands. RET is a method of subsidising ferry travel by calculating the cost by road transport of the same distance, and charging a similar amount for the ferry trip. In effect it is a government subsidy for the ferry route. But rather than using our tax money to help the people of Cumbrae, the SNP has decided to run a “pilot” RET System on some routes to the Western Isles.
Labour promised a 40% cut in all ferry fares, and the cut would have been in place by now if the election had gone differently. By contrast, the SNP’s ”pilot” scheme is designed to run up to the next elections for the Scottish Parliament and “co-incidentally” these routes serve a number of SNP marginals. Some say that cutting the fares on these particular routes would be a less-than-subtle way of buying votes in these constituencies.
Given that the Largs – Cumbrae route is the most costly route per mile in Scotland if not Europe, and we might have had 40% cuts in the fairs if the circumstances had been different, it seems unfair that the Western Isles routes should be chosen as a sop to wavering SNP voters, while the Largs – Cumbrae route is ignored. Particularly when it looks suspiciously like the SNP’s motive is buying votes in the Western Isles at the expense of the voters of Cumbrae.
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1.
Peter McLean | March 28, 2008 at 11:45 pm
…………’40% cuts in the fairs’………………
…………’it seems unfair’………………………
…………Remember Lobey Dosser – Fairy Nuff?
…………I hope to be using the Ardrossan/ Brodick and Largs / Greater Cumbrae routes this summer so, good luck with any scheme designed to relate distance travelled to fair fare levied.
Caracas, Venezuela, 28th March 2008
2.
largslab | March 29, 2008 at 10:47 am
Peter, you’ll be disappointed if you expect any application of RET to Largs-Cumbrae in the near future, if at all. The SNP has no plans to do so, and their current experiment in the Western Isles has a £5 base charge. I.e. more than the current pedestrian fare on the Cumbrae ferry route.
My point is that it is perfectly possible to reduce the ferry charge by 40%, as we promised. There’s no need to introduce RET. It is being withdrawn from many routes by the Norwegians, it may not work anywhere in Scotland and it is least likely to work on short routes. And there’s none shorter than Largs-Cumbrae.
3.
largslab | March 30, 2008 at 10:43 am
Not to denigrate the tourism sector in any way, or the occasional visitor, but the prime concern has to be for the islanders who live there all year round. And the Cumbrae and Arran islanders are unlikely to benfit from RET in the foreseeable future.
Call me a cynic, but I suspect that the SNP has introduced the huge subsidy on the Western Isles routes in order to buy votes in marginal seats at the next Scottish Parliament elections.
Unfortunately for the people of Cumbrae and Arran, they will never benefit from this subsidy. But they would have benefited directly if Labour had control of the Parlaiment in Edinburgh.
And your trips on the Clyde this summer would have been cheaper!