RET is paid for by the Scottish Government. The money will come from the various sources of taxation raised that end up in the Scottish Government’s coffers.
The rationale behind RET is that as transport costs rise, island communities suffer economically with reduced growth. Business expansion is limited and the cost of basic goods becomes disproportionately high. The Government ends up either funding islanders directly through greater social care budgets or by reducing transport costs allowing islanders to spend more of their earnings on themselves. RET works to the principle that part of the cost of transport to and from island communities should be born by the islanders with government paying the rest essentially considering the subsidy as the cost of providing public transport to the islands.
The government can raise overall taxation to gather the money spent on RET, or it can divert money from existing revenue streams. Some may come from EU funding. Either way the cost for this service is spread over many people, some who will never benefit directly from the reduced ferry costs. However, the traffic to the islands has increased a lot boosting tourism and reducing costs to business. That’s good, it increases the vibrancy of economic life on the islands and increases the tax take. It makes for a more healthy economy in general.
Much like many other social policies, everyone pays a bit. In this case a few people benefit a lot, but we in the country as a whole all benefit a little. Tourism is a big industry in Scotland and anything that increases tourism to the islands will have a knock on effect to tourism in Scotland in general.
This committed capitalist sees this piece of socialism as a good thing. The fact it will effectively lower the cost to me of bagging those GM/SI summits out there is entirely incidental
I recently had a ruck with Red Funnel about the cost of the ferry to the Isle of Wight. Adding a small trailer, less than 2m in length to my vehicle increased the fare by 60%. In looking at a cost comparison, I used the Oban - Craignure example and was politely reminded by Red Funnel that CalMac are subsidised. It cost us £46.70 for a three persons plus car return fare to Mull in May. The ticket to the Isle of Wight for two persons plus car plus trailer worked out at £323.00. Even allowing for the trailer fare, I felt I was being ripped off down south. The service was also not a scratch on that provided by CalMac, so I for one will be back up north as soon as the opportunity allows.
Oh dear, I fear that with all this positive information, between us Colin and I have let the secret out of the bag and Mull will soon be inundated by hoards of SOTA Activators.
Really pleased that you had a good time Colin. It is a lovely island. Pity you didn’t get up at least one summit - 'S Airde Beinn GM/SI-153 would have made a nice evening bimble. Maybe on your return visit.
Thankfully we managed to mostly escape the midges. One morning the kids were playing out in the little burn on the holiday cottage grounds and got dined on, but other than that there was no problem.
When I grabbed the IOW pair to complete the G association. GW0DSP and myself stayed with Shearings (other companies available) in Sandown and paid £119 each for 5 days half board including the car ferry. We could have taken both cars but only took one.
+1 for Smidge. Works pretty much as well as DEET but without melting anything plastic or burning your corneas off if you put it on your forehead and then sweat so it runs into your eyes.
