The Mull & Iona Ferry Committee have been undertaking an extensive public consultation on what the users want from their new ferries.
The completed Specification of User Requirements (SUR) was delivered to the Government department that manages the ferry system, Transport Scotland.
Extract:
“The central criticism has been that whilst communities needed a larger number of smaller vessels, what was delivered is a small number of very large vessels. Take for example the Loch Seaforth, operating between Ullapool and Stornoway – islanders on Lewis wanted two smaller vessels, because they could see that would give them higher capacity, more sailings, and more reliability. Instead they got one large ferry, that delivers just two departures per day, and then runs an overnight freight service that used to be operated by a separate vessel.”