The above is headlining in the Herald.
If Colonsay, population135, owned by Alex Howard of Oxford, was a Greek island, they’d get no ferry service at all in the winter months and might even have seen the horrors of a late passenger being pushed to his death in the screws.
In New Zealand they might have drifted toward the rocks, after paying twice the CalMac fares, in an elderly ferry only to hear that the incoming conservative government has refused to pay $3bn for new ferries and harbour facilities that the outgoing Labour government costed at half that. The much-needed new ferries are now cancelled.
In British Columbia in Canada, they might wait all day and never get a ferry to visit island relatives, on ferries far older than Scotland has, despite BC Ferries operating in calmer seas than CalMac must, making massive profits of nearly $100m and paying dividends of $6m.
On the Isle of Wight off the South Coast of England, locals ‘slam’ ferry service cuts and prices twice those of CalMac as the owners make £12m profits and pay £8m in dividends.
On the islands off Kingston, Ontario (population 2 000), aging unreliable ferries must keep going two years after new ferries, built in Romania and ferried 4 800 miles to Canada are still not operational. There are three shipyards in Hamilton on Lake Ontario, 200 miles from Kingston.
Finally in Washington State USA, islands off the glittering city of Seattle, in the wealthiest country in the world, the privatised WS ferries are over-priced, unreliable, elderly rust-buckets held together by chewing gum and good intentions. of 21 vessels only 13 are in service and only 9 are really seaworthy.
Meanwhile in Scotland, the smallest of island communities get a cheap, year-round service in the youngest of fleets, massively subsidised at tax-payer expense and by the SNP Government, but run to the media over the inconvenience of a minor reduction in service.
Sources:
https://thetyee.ca/News/2023/10/23/Crisis-BC-Ferries/
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.bcferries.com/web_image/h08/had/8950543417374.pdf
https://mynorthwest.com/3942167/new-ferry-boats-in-washington-at-least-four-years-away/#//
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
A superb summary – one I must forward to various acquaintances who belittle CalMac.
Jon
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Try getting a First bus home in Hamilton 😐
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Built up over months now, TuS has assembled (IMHO) an unrivalled evidence base of comparative assessments of ferry services internationally settings broadly comparable to that of CalMac.
The BBC and mainstream media that supposedly ‘serves’ Scotland has shown ZERO interest in the provision of context or perspective regarding Scotland’s ferry services. Indeed, they have even provided very partial accounts of CalMac’s actual operational performance.
However, due to endless repetition coupled with their access still to a substantial part of Scotland’s electorate, the framing of CalMac and its services that has been set by the BBC and much of the mainstream media will be tough to shift. ‘Facts’ may not now be enough.
However, respect to TuS for working persistently on this issue! Are there no objective, truth seeking investigative journalist in Scotland up for taking on this role? The ‘truth’ will not be about revealing unalloyed positives – when is it ever black or white in such matters: it will be more ‘mid-grey’, something that the prevailing media framing is working hard to deny!
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I would like to know the percentage of English people living on some of these islanders I’m suspicious that it’s unusually high
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