From the Journal of the San Juan Islands in Washington State (USA) today, an open letter to the Washington State Federal Government:
On behalf of the residents, business owners and essential service providers in San Juan County and Town of Friday Harbor, many of which are co-signers to this letter, we are compelled to collectively bring to your attention the serious consequences of the significant disruptions to Washington State Ferries (WSF) service on the Anacortes/San Juan Islands route. The negative impacts of unpredictable and unreliable sailings and frequent cancellations caused by vessel and crew shortages, vessel maintenance and failures and other persistent complications across the ferry system are compounding to critical levels. The evidence for this is mounting.
The County and Town of Friday Harbor Councils are committed to continue working with the Governor’s Office, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and WSF and our legislative representatives on localized solutions.
As you are aware, San Juan County does not have a bridge or alternate driving route to the mainland or between islands. WSF sailings are heavily traveled by residents and tourists as the main transportation link to and from other islands and the mainland. Residents rely on the ferries for every aspect of life including: access to work, school, essential services, medical care, commerce, the courts, the county clerk and other basic necessities of life. Tourists rely on the ferries to get to the destinations they booked and paid for, and to reliably return home.
Ferry service disruptions to the San Juan Islands have gone far beyond inconvenience for some time now. We are beginning to quantify the impact on our local economy and the well-being of residents. There is growing concern, based on a preliminary analysis of San Juan County’s sales and lodging tax data, that we are experiencing high losses of this critical revenue source due to ferry service disruptions. The negative perception and experience of riders of ferries across the system is well publicized by media outlets, creating a disincentive for people to travel to these islands for tourism and move here for employment.
A County Community Health Assessment is currently generating data that confirms what we have heard repeatedly from the public — access to critical medical services for our residents is declining to life-threatening levels due to the unreliability of ferries when travelling for medical care on the mainland or to the only critical care unit in our County on San Juan Island. Residents are routinely forced to spend additional dollars, if they can afford it, to spend a night on the mainland before or after medical appointments and procedures.
https://www.sanjuanjournal.com/opinion/joint-town-and-county-letter-regarding-ferry-service/
Is there any equivalent evidence of the effects of the media coverage of the far superior Scottish system, massively subsidised by the SNP Government?
No one seems interested in doing that. Just this kind of thing on social media that calls out for a Disclosure Scotland or Martin Williams/Herald follow-up:
Talking-up Scotland 
LETS ALL BLAME BBC FOR LYING
Sent from my iPad
<
div dir=”ltr”>
<
blockquote type=”cite”>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well much as I like to lambast BBC Scotland for their often ridiculous and overtly biased reporting, it would in this instance be unfair to just single them out.
Nope, it is the whole corrupt “Scottish Media” who seem to try and damage the SNP Government through CalMac and their travails with the two new ferries.
The tale of the two new ferries is certainly not good, but I passed them both today at Fergusons, the first looks ready in the water and the second is well underway. However, what the “Scottish Media” have been trying to do is to extend the issue / poor project management of the construction into the day-to-day operation of the CalMac fleet itself. Hence the “starving islanders” etc, nonsense.
As this blog was shown time and time again, although not perfect, CalMac’s operations are pretty damn good when compared to others.
None of this concerns the “Scottish Media” of course and that includes BBC Scotland. All they are concerned with is their own survival and who will fund them after the next GE, ‘cos it sure isn’t based on revenue from their dwindling readers, listeners or viewers.
Note I have not mentioned Martin Williams once, oh dammit..
LikeLiked by 1 person