Transport / Councillor says she could spend week in Spain for price of NorthLink return trip
A YOUNG family said they would have to take out a bank loan to make a return trip on the ferry to Aberdeen after the latest price rises, according to one councillor.
Liz Peterson said a constituent had contacted her and said they had been quoted £815 for a trip with their children, along with a cabin and a car, next year.
The Shetland West member told Transport Scotland and NorthLink officials: “I could go to Spain and have a week’s holiday for £815”.
She questioned “how can that be justifiable”, and said that this was “meant to be a lifeline service”.
“This family is actually now asking if they want to go on holiday,” Peterson said at Tuesday’s external transport forum.
“That’s a horrendous situation for any young family to be in.”
It comes a week after Transport Scotland and NorthLink announced that islanders could book travel for 2026.
However, serious concerns were raised after Transport Scotland announced fares would also rise for next year.
Speaking at the forum, Transport Scotland’s interim head of ferries Chris Wilcock said he could “completely understand that people will not welcome any increase”.
The increase was “purely set” at the consumer price index (CPI) figure for May 2025, he said, which sat at 3.4 per cent.
Wilcock said islanders could take advantage of the 30 per cent discount, and he questioned whether the family quoted had used the islander discount when looking at the trip.
He said they could also access schemes like the friends and family discount.
Peterson asked if there was any possibility that those schemes could go further, or if discounts could be increased, as a result of the latest fare rises.
That was “not something we’re looking at the moment”, Wilcock said.
However, he said they were currently in the process of the consultation on the Northern Isles ferry contract, and he said expected that was “something we’ll see a lot of” in the responses.
Peterson said the Scottish Government “need to be doing everything” it could to reduce the fares.
“It’s not affordable for a family to get away with that cost,” she added.
Transport Scotland defended the fare rises last week, saying the Scottish Government had made “significant investment in recent years to ensure that ferry fares are affordable”.
“In the Northern Isles, islanders currently receive a 30 per cent discount, and following reductions in passenger and car fares in 2018, islander fares were frozen from 2020 to March 2024 alongside a 20 per cent reduction in cabin fares,” a Transport Scotland spokesperson said.
Islander passenger fares in peak season have risen from £28.50 to £29.50 on the Aberdeen route, while the most expensive cabin – the premium outer two-berth – is going up from £140 to £145.
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