Ferry Service Role(s)

Any island’s relationship with its ferry service will be largely dictated by a number of factors as set out below in terms of the ferry service role(s). For each community, these should be considered in turn in a narrative, supported by quantitative indicators where these can be developed and are meaningful. The below highlights the different roles played by an island ferry service.

The ‘needs’ of island residents to travel for regular, day-to-day activities, such as commuting, education, shopping etc:

  • Islands with larger populations naturally host a greater range of public services and other services (i.e., they are largely self-contained). In the largest islands, there will therefore be very low ferry travel volumes for day-to-day purposes.
  • Where islands have lower populations, short crossing times and where their mainland landfall is or is near to a town of some significance / a transport hub, there will be higher levels of day-to-day travel, including potentially commuting, as the services offered on the mainland are less likely to be provided on-island.
  • It is not possible to make a meaningful day trip to the mainland from some islands. In these cases, very few trips will be made for day-to-day purposes, or a range of travel purposes will be combined in a small number of less frequent trips incorporating one or more overnight stays.
  • Where crossing times are short, and islands are connected to centres of population / commerce, there may be a case to run services into the evening to allow island residents to better access these services.

The ‘needs’ of island residents to travel for more occasional activities, e.g., visiting friends and relatives:

  • For more self-contained islands, holiday, leisure and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) journeys will form the majority of trips made. This will often coincide with the demand for tourism travel to the island. There will evidently be marked summer / winter variation here.
  • In many cases, ‘chained trips’ will be common, where an island resident will undertake multiple activities on a single trip.
  • For islands with higher levels of ferry travel for day-to-day use, these journeys will form a far lower proportion of travel.
  • Any island air service will also be used for these trips by some people although this may be cost prohibitive for others.

The island supply-chain arrangements for inbound supplies and the export of goods:

  • Larger islands with a full range of facilities will require a retail and public sector supply-chain (e.g., Lewis), like any bigger town.
  • Less populous islands will have more informal supply chains or will see individuals travelling to the mainland themselves for goods and services.
  • Islands with very low populations and long crossing times which preclude day-to-day travel will see some services delivered by the service provider travelling to the island for a number of days per month (particularly where there is an air service).
  • Some islands will import more raw materials than others to supply indigenous industry, e.g., Islay.
  • Some islands will have a higher ‘export intensity’ of physical goods and products than others, e.g., Orkney and Shetland.

The volume and nature of tourism to the island:

  • Tourism levels vary widely across the network.
  • Those with short crossing times and close to centres of population or tourism will see greater numbers of day-trip visits (e.g., Bute, Mull etc). There may be a case to run services into the evening to facilitate the day-tripper market (as happens on e.g., Cumbrae).
  • Large numbers of day-trippers associated with ‘weather peaks’ may inhibit travel by residents, a particularly common feature on the Firth of Clyde routes.
  • A day-trip to some islands is not possible (other than by air) so most ferry-based tourism will involve an overnight stay.

As part of the strategic network for through traffic:

  • Some routes act as a ‘through’ route in terms of the wider road network rather than as a single in-out access to an island or peninsula, e.g., Tarbert (Loch Fyne) – Portavadie.
  • For an island where two ferry crossings are required to reach the Scottish mainland, e.g., Jura – Port Askaig – Kennacraig.

Potential areas of research (and where appropriate, potential indicators) to inform these ferry ‘service roles’ are set out below. It should be noted that the potential indicators set out should not be prescriptively applied but are intended to guide the type of analysis that could be undertaken depending on the nature of the community in question.