Argyll’s islands of Mull, Islay, Jura and Colonsay – with strong support from the Isle of Bute and the Cowal peninsula – have decided to launch an ipetition on the Scottish Government’s website, calling for a 40% reduction in ferry fares to these islands. They are not included in the Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) pilot scheme the Government introduced for a thirty month period from October 2008 to April 2011. The pilot reduces fares on specific routes to the equivalent cost of travelling the same distance by road. It is designed to test the contribution to sustainable development such subsidy might support. The routes selected for the pilot scheme are largeky to the Outer Hebrides – Ullapool to Stornoway (Lewis), Uig (Skye) to Tarbert (Harris)/Lochmaddy (North Uist) and Oban to Castlebay (Barra) and Lochboisdale (South Uist), including Oban to Coll and Tiree (Argyll islands). It is this last inclusion that has led to concerns among the excluded Argyll isands. They see a situation developing over the thirty months of the pilot scheme where the included islands embed a market advantage because of the access subsidy denied t the excluded islands. The islanders anxieties and their proposed solutions are supported by local Councillors including Transport Spokesman Duncan MacINtyre who is also Chair of Highlands and Islands Transport (HITRANS). Councillor MacIntyre has called for an kimmediate review of ferry fares. Argyll and Bute MP Alan Reid also supports the islanders, while warning of the need not to imperil the innovative RET scheme.

If you support the islanders’ concerns, click on the petition link in the text above to sign it.