John,
Thank you for your email and I note the Transport Forum’s view. Firstly, please be assured that we were not withholding any information from you at our meeting. You will recall that we discussed the current pressures on the network and that, notwithstanding our commitment to deliver the best service possible to each community, there may from time to time have to be substitute arrangements. In Tiree’s case, if the MV Clansman was not available, our experience suggested that although she has slightly lesser capacity, MV Lord of the Isles was the most appropriate replacement. To the best of my recollection, the meeting understood this.
The change to Uig triangle relief cover during MV Hebrides’ dry dock in March, followed concerns from the community that MV Hebridean Isles & MV Isle Of Arran would be unable to provide a resilient service, based on previous experience of this arrangement and MV Isle of Arran’s recent problems with her propulsion system. We believe that by deploying MV Clansman to the triangle and MV Lord Of The Isles to Coll/Tiree, this will provide the most resilient service across both routes. Any capacity issues are manageable.
I recognise that you would not wish to see the MV Clansman redeployed away from Tiree but I am sure you will appreciate the planning constraints that we have to work with to maintain the best service we can across the network. I hope this clarifies the position.
Regards,
David
David Gibson
Director of Service Delivery
Director of Service Delivery