Oh dear... I see the beginnings of the fur flying when this story gathers some momentum: BBC News - Budget cuts may sink Yoker to Renfrew ferry service
Quoted Text
A question mark is hanging over the future of one of Scotland's oldest ferry services because of budget cuts.
Councillors are set to consider closing the service between Yoker on the north bank of the River Clyde and Renfrew on the south.
The route is heavily subsidised and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) is looking at ways of saving £2.5m from its annual budget.
SPT is due to decide the fate of the ferry link at a special budget meeting next week.
About 140,000 passengers take the short journey across the Clyde from Yoker, near Clydebank, to Renfrew every year.
If the service were to close, the decision would be hugely controversial locally.
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Two passenger ferries run on the service - the Renfrew Rose and Yoker Swan.
Each ferry can carry 50 passengers but in practice it is believed there are rarely more than 12 on one trip.
There were around 140,000 passenger journeys on the ferry last year.
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SPT provides a subsidy of about £400,000 each year to sustain the service - about £2.70 per passenger per journey.
The two ferries have been in service for 26 years. They are coming towards the end of their useful lives and have become increasingly costly and difficult to maintain.
Renfrew-Yoker ferry - Strathclyde Partnership for TransportThe Fares: Adult single £1.20 Child single £0.60 Without prejudice to the people that use it, or the service itself, it doesn't really take a genius to see that the numbers don't stack, and that the operation of the vessels is financially crippling. What might take a genius though, is coming up with something new that does the job, and doing so using less than the current budget/subsidy total, and doing in whatever time may be available. |