Transport / Twenty-five per cent bus fare uplift approved but £2 cap will limit impact
BUS fares in Shetland are set to rise by 25 per cent after remaining unchanged for nearly a decade – but a year-long trial of a £2 fare cap will limit the impact on passengers.
The 25 per cent rise on underlying fares is described as an “interim” measure, and a full public bus fares policy review will come before members of transport partnership ZetTrans before the £2 cap pilot concludes at the end of January 2027.
The changes mean an extra £116,000 in income will come ZetTrans’ way over the next 10 months through Transport Scotland reimbursements.
Transport Scotland reimburses ZetTrans for the difference between the capped fare and the underlying standard fare.
In January the Scottish Government began a 12-month trial in Shetland which capped single fares at £2, before rolling out in other parts of the Highlands and Islands.
The £2 cap makes longer bus journeys across Shetland a fair bit cheaper on routes such as from Hillswick, Mossbank and Sumburgh to Lerwick.
A report to a meeting of ZetTrans on Thursday highlighted however that the introduction of the pilot “does not remove the need to maintain an appropriate underlying fare structure”.
“Public bus fares in Shetland have been unchanged for a number of years and a review would have been required irrespective of the pilot in order to ensure that fares continue to make a proportionate contribution towards the cost of providing public transport services,” it added.
It said that a 25 per cent rise “represents a measured step towards rebalancing the relationship between fare income and the cost of providing services without pre-empting the outcome of the Scottish Government’s work on the longer-term future of bus fares policy”.
The Lerwick town service bus fare, for example, will rise from £1.20 to £1.50. This will become the only fare that remains under the £2 cap threshold during the 12-month pilot.
The largest increase in terms of cash is the fare between Hillswick and Lerwick, which will rise from £3.80 to £4.80. But passengers will only pay £2 during the cap trial.
Speaking at Thursday’s meeting, lead officer Michael Craigie said a 25 per cent increase was still below inflation when taking into account the flat fare since 2017.
He said an increase of 35 to 39 per cent would have kept up with inflation.
Board member Colin Marsland questioned the “interim” description of the fare increase as there was no clear end date, and that it was unclear what will happen after the £2 fare cap pilot concludes.
Craigie said there was an element of “pragmatism” involved given there is uncertainty over the national bus fare policy picture.
He also said the impact on users is “judged to be minimal” given that the £2 cap is in place, with mainly those on the town service bus set to experience a rise in cost.
Marsland successfully proposed an amendment which put it in writing that a report on bus fares is presented before 22 January next year prior to the £2 cap trial ending.
People aged under 22 and folk over 60 can already travel for free on buses, as well as those who meet a disability criteria.
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