Travel equality

This government is spending millions on upgrading the road between Glasgow and Edinburgh to save 20 minutes of journey time (Scotland’s ferries: geographic discrimination or good value for a lot of money? SN, 19/10/2017).

Then spending another 800 million or so on upgrading the rail network, and over a billion on the new Forth crossing.

I would like to know why they can’t look at making tunnels between Unst and Yell and Yell and Toft and Whalsay and Laxo.

Running the ferries might cost 7.5 million a year, but replacing several old ferries will cost a lot more, and very soon.

The journey from Unst to Lerwick is 50 miles; in this day and age that journey should only take 1 hour, and anywhere else in this country that is all people would accept (hence the new Forth crossing).

At a ferry consultation recently I was told that to make the case it had to benefit everyone in Scotland.

Can someone explain to me how I am going to benefit from saving 20 minutes on a journey from Glasgow to Edinburgh; I do know how I would benefit from a 1-hour journey time from Unst to Lerwick though.

Jack Barclay
Unst.