Council to consult over findings of Corran Ferry survey
The Highland Council is to consult with members of its Lochaber Area Committee and also communities which use the Corran Ferry, West Lochaber, before taking any decisions on the future fare structure of the busy vehicular service, which plies between Nether Lochaber and Ardgour, linking to the Ardnamurchan Penisula, Morvern and Mull.
A central plank of the consultation will be the presentation of a socio-economic study compiled by independent consultants, AECOM on behalf of the Council, which is to be shared with Argyll and Bute Council..
The survey attracted 593 responses both online via the Council’s web site and in response to leaflets handed out on the ferry over the festive period. On top of this, 20 local businesses were contacted by phone and provided valuable data for the study report.
The Council faces having to increase the fares to bridge the gap between the income generated from fares and the cost of running the ferry to provide a 15-hour per day shuttle service across the Corran narrows and maintaining the MV Corran and the replacement ferry, MV Maid of Glencoul.
Income falls £173,000 short of the annual running costs of an estimated £1.3 million.
The current cost of a full single fare is £7.60. For those buying a book of 30 single tickets, the fare is discounted by 71% at £2.23. There is no charge for passengers. The total number of vehicles using the service is 290,000 per year, involving an estimated 500,000 passengers.
Councillor Graham Phillips, Chairman of the Transport Environmental and Community Services Committee, said the findings of the local consultation would be reported to the committee at its next meeting on Thursday 15 May.
He said there would be an inflationary increase added to fares from the start of the financial year on 1 April 2014. However, he stressed that no decisions on the future fare structure would be taken until the local consultation had taken place and the findings presented to the TEC Services Committee meeting on 15 May.
He said: “We are very pleased indeed with the excellent response to the survey, both from visitors and the local community. It gives us a good understanding of the local economic issues governing the fare structure. The service is one of the best used in Scotland and we fully recognise the importance of the service to local people and visitors/holidaymakers alike.
“At the same time, we have to reduce the gap between rising operating costs and the income we generated from fares.”