33 Million of Cost/Savings Per Annum

[MuckleJoannie]

Remember though that people commute into Whalsay to work, either full time or to do a job such as BT engineers, marine engineers, county workmen etc.

[stilldellin]

And rememeber that one of the reasons given for closing the Whalsay fish factory this week was the lack of ferry crossings - 26 jobs lost.

 

Yes, makes you wonder how they managed when they only had 1 ferry.

 

Not sure if I buy this closing of the factory due to lack of ferries. Is it no longer possible to book in advance or is it a case the company did not know when a shipment would be ready ?

[Spinner72]

The Whalsay service has provision for around 300 cars per day and over 1500 passengers which is around 50% more than its entire population.

 

Population bears little relevance to service requirements, if any.

 

A quick look at the number of trips for vehicles and passengers illustrates this very clearly.

 

See page 32 of this document.

[crofter]

now what about the 3/4s of a million quid invested by the trust in it. has that been payed back or is that down the pan.

 

That is history paulb - it was the company running the factory before Norpak re-opened it which got that loan.

[paulb]

thank you crofter. was it written off. just being nosey. with the number of shut downsand take over i hope we dont have to much invested in the salmon industry. still a shame for the folks without a job.

[Muppet]

 

To put this into perspective: if the Shetland population as a whole had the same level of service to Aberdeen, it would be equivalent to 55 return runs of a Northlink sized ferry per day.

 

You really are comparing apples with pears there. I can't see any relevance to that arguement.

[crofter]

thank you crofter. was it written off. just being nosey. with the number of shut downsand take over i hope we dont have to much invested in the salmon industry. still a shame for the folks without a job.

 

I don't know if it has been written off. Maybe some was recovered when the company went into administration. As I understand it, Norpak are not in financial difficulty, and have not been in receipt of public money, but have shut the factory because it is too difficult to move fish in and out of whalsay (logistic nightmare + additional cost + uncertainty over ferry service) if it was located in a better spot they would still be working. The salmon industry is one of the few sectors with solid economics left in Shetland.

[Ghostrider]

^ I doot da however many hunder thoosan fish it blew ta aestird a Yul an da maas and selkies ate, hed as muckle da do wi da Qualsa factory no bein wirt da budder, as boats an piers. Nae doot baith wir far short o' ideal, bit cudda dun. Dir just fine ta add on ta mak im a sweeter peel, and shift some "blame" tho.

 

I never cud see foo a Qualsa factory cud wirk fur ony lent o' time fur ocht bit fish fae da isle. Sooner redder is later da extra overheads o' freighting in an oot wis gyaan ta mak finnin sum idder wye closer ta da main rod mak sense upoa paper.

[shetlander]

It is crazy that commercial traffic does not have priority, especially cases like this when the long term sustainability of the island depends on businesses.

 

It is high time peak and off-peak fares were introduced to ease demand at peak times.

 

I don’t think ferries should be any more sacrosanct than anything else when it comes to making cuts but I’d be concerned about fares being hiked up for island businesses or regular commuters who need to use the ferries at peak times. That said, I do think that a more innovative fare structure could be thought up along the lines that the discounted, multi-journey tickets that can currently be bought by anyone (and don’t have an expiry date?) should just be available to island residents or should be time limited for other regular users. The notion among some that fares should be abolished altogether is, IMHO, a complete pipe dream in the current economic climate.

 

I just don’t believe claims that the isles will go down the tubes if any cuts are introduced though. I’m sure usage figures broken down by route, time, day and month would reveal countless examples of over-provision on some routes at certain times of the day, week or year. As an example, I’m sure savings could be made if the Yell Sound route was served by just one of the current fuel guzzlers and one of the smaller boats at the morning and evening peaks, by one of the current boats running as regularly as possible in the middle of the day and by the smaller boat after the evening peak. If nothing else, that could end the crazy situation of one of them having to be manned 24/7 (as I understand it) because it takes so long to fire up and shut down and so is permanently crewed instead. Plenty of scope for other things to be considered to achieve some savings but which IMHO would have a negligible impact too - runs after 10pm being abolished other than on Fridays and Saturdays, Papa Stour and Foula being served by the same crew and/or boat, the Skerries service being run just to Symbister (to tie in with onward trips to Laxo) or Vidlin instead of Lerwick and Vidlin etc.

[Frances144]

I don't think we need free binbags. How much does that cost the Council? Anyone know.

[Symbister]

Listening to a lot of peoples pre-election views on the radio, many expressed concern that they had only one or two bus service runs per day. When you look at the amount of ferry runs provided in comparison, it seems completely unfair and vastly out of proportion.

 

I made this very point at a ZetTrans "consultation" meeting a couple of years back.

 

Still waiting..............

 

And it remains a good point. We've created a ferry system - or, more to the point, a transport system - that's focused on moving cars rather than people. We've combined that with policies that support centralisation of employment in Lerwick, as opposed to redistributing jobs (and in particular the ones over which the Council has direct control) to other parts of Shetland. And having done that, we've felt obliged to cater for peak flows, with no other constraint (e.g. variable pricing) in place. That has led to bigger and bigger ferries and terminals (particularly of course on Yell Sound) which are under-used for much of the day. Adjusting to straitened times, not to mention the inevitability of higher fuel prices, isn't going to happen overnight, and in any case it will take a while to undo the effect of these past decisions.

 

Perhaps through bus services would be a start. I don't know if having folk travel as foot passengers and then have to board a bus is a sufficiently attractive proposition. Can't we run bus commuter services to Lerwick (and maybe SVT) from Whalsay and (say) Cullivoe, with folk staying on the bus throughout? Yes, it would reduce capacity by two or three cars, but maybe those drivers would be on the bus.

[suuusssiiieee]

No sign of any "savings" if my look through the doors of the new white house at the north ness is anything to go by....the finest of furnishings adorn that particular building, some of which would not be out of place in the Ritz hotel...and has anybody else heard a whisper in relation to alleged expensive taps?

[Ironwithin]

Social care, education and ferries need the biggest cuts as the ammount of money they use up is totally out of hand.

[JustMe]

Social care, education and ferries need the biggest cuts as the amount of money they use up is totally out of hand.

Well you may be right but even if you are should the cuts come from delivery of those services or from the admin budget for providing the services?. Or indeed should those departments have to look at raising more income rather than cut backs?. In fact Social Care and Education are probably the biggest budgets in most councils and maybe there are good reasons for the costs being higher per head of population in Shetland than other areas and ferries contribute to vibrant islands that maybe do not happen in other areas.

[Guest posiedon]

Cuts in the council wage bill (and expense claims) from the top down would be my preferred option.