Nobody on the bus, and ferry transfer looks further away

With an empty bus replacing Kilcreggan‘s ferry service this lunchtime, a long-term solution for the service seems further away than ever.

Since Clydelink’s renewed contract for the service – costing taxpayers an extra £87,000 a year – took effect on April 1, it has been severely disrupted or suspended for ‘technical reasons’ on an average of one day in six.

The Island Princess hasn’t sailed since breaking down on Monday of this week, and currently there is still no indication of when the service might be restored.

In the meantime buses are on offer for a 50-mile road journey, replacing the 13-minute ferry trip between Kilcreggan and Gourock – there were no passengers at all on the bus leaving Kilcreggan this lunchtime.

And the hopes of those waiting for the service to be transferred from Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) to Transport Scotland were dealt a further blow this week.

Minister for Transport and the Islands Humza Yousaf announced that his department’s ‘policy review’ on ferry contracts was being extended, although no date was set.

In February Mr Yousaf announced a nine-month ‘pause’ in new ferry contracts because of the ‘Teckal exemption’, meaning that the new contract for the Dunoon to Gourock ferry service would start in April 2018.

It is planned to include the Kilcreggan ferry in this contract, but only once it has been running for 12 months – yesterday’s announcement has added to the delay and uncertainty.

Meanwhile, local MSP Jackie Baillie has written to Mr Yousaf highlighting the recent disruption to the Kilcreggan service.

She said “It is completely unacceptable that residents on the peninsula have been left without a ferry service for days at a time so soon after last month’s disruption.

“Ferry users have been left in the dark due to Clydelink’s failure to communicate with passengers and the lack of updates on when the service will be back up and running.”

She said the latest fault seemed to have been caused by a rope snapping on debris, causing damage to the engine which meant the floor of the vessel had to be removed.

““I have been in regular communication with SPT in recent weeks and I contacted the assistant chief executive for operations, Eric Stewart, again this week in response to the concerns raised with me by local people,” she added.

“ As a result, SPT has confirmed that it will arrange with the operator to provide a 48-seater replacement coach service rather than the unsuitable eight-seater bus which has been running since Monday.

“The sooner Transport Scotland takes over responsibility for running the service the better and I will be writing to the Transport Minister to highlight the most recent disruption faced by passengers.

“We need a frequent and reliable ferry service now and I will be pushing for answers on when we can expect some progress on the transfer from SPT to the Scottish Government.”

Graham hardie, Argyll and Bute Council’s representative on SPT, said today that he had been told by service manager Alex Scott today” The engine broke down on Monday due to no fault of the operator but the propeller being caught in debris on a crossing.

“As it stands a new engine has been fitted and is awaiting inspection but everything that needs to be done is being done to get the service up and running asap.”

Last October Mr Yousaf confirmed to Ms Baillie that SPT had signed an agreement in principle for Transport Scotland to take over the service.

The new contract which SPT awarded to Clydelink earlier this year will run until at least July 2018, which had been the date when Transport Scotland indicated they could take it over, but the contract was worded so that it could be extended to a total of up to seven years.

Mr Yousaf said this week: “Since the policy review was launched in February, my officials have carried out extensive engagement with the European Commission and key stakeholders across our ferry networks.

“This work has led to the conclusion that a direct award to a body that is compliant with the Teckal exemption would be allowed under EU legislation. However, before we can consider making a direct award, we also need to make sure it would comply with complex state aid rules.

“This will require further engagement with the Commission and will almost certainly extend the timeline for the policy review beyond the autumn period. We will publish a report on progress to date in the autumn and aim to complete the full review process as soon as possible.

“It is the Scottish Government’s preference to make a direct award to an in-house provider, but it’s important that the outcome of this review is not prejudged.

“This extension means we will have to further consider the implications for the next contracts for the Gourock-Dunoon and Northern Isles ferry services, and we will lay out the way forward for both of these contracts in due course.”