Ferry fares to increase by 'unwelcome' 10% in new year

She stated the rise in costs were “necessary” to keep the ferry services sustainable.

The 10% increase for 2025-26 will be implemented for the Northern Isles network on January 1 2025, while Clyde and Hebrides fares will go up from March 28 2025.

Announcing the “reluctant” move, Ms Hyslop told the Holyrood committee: “We know that any fares increase is unwelcome, but this is a necessary action to enable continued investment in new vessels and infrastructure to support the services and ensure that ferry services remain sustainable and available to our island communities.”

However, the Scottish Conservatives have said island communities will be “astonished and angry” by the news.

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It comes at a time when the ferry system across Scotland continues to be hit by disruption and breakdowns.

Ms Hyslop told the committee it would be “too challenging” to continue with a fare freeze that had been introduced this year, at a cost of around £10 million, given the significant financial concerns facing the Scottish Government.

She said: “We froze ferry fares for 2023-24 instead of a 9.1% inflationary increase in order to help people, businesses and communities at the height of the cost-of-living crisis, and to continue to recover from the impact of the pandemic,” Ms Hyslop wrote.

“However, doing so meant that Government effectively bore the loss of revenue in the longer term. In the current fiscal climate that loss, at £10 million a year, is too challenging to continue.

“Reluctantly, we are having to raise ferry fares in the coming year by 10%, bringing fare levels back to around what they would have been had fares not been frozen in 2023-24.

“This means, in real terms, fares have broadly increased in line with inflation over time.

Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop. (Image: PA) “That will help to partially recover the previous freeze, address some of the significant budget pressures and allow the continued support of the ferries network in future years."

Sue Webber, transport spokeswoman for the Scottish Tories, said: “Scotland’s island communities will be astonished and angry to hear about this huge rise in ferry fares.”

“Those reliant on CalMac for lifeline ferries have endured a sub-standard service for years due to the SNP’s incompetent procurement of new vessels,” the party’s transport spokeswoman, Sue Webber, said.

“So the announcement of a 10% hike in ticket prices will feel like another slap in the face to them.

“The Transport Secretary says these rises are necessary – but they wouldn’t have been had the SNP not wasted hundreds of millions of pounds on two new vessels which have still to carry a single passenger several years after they were due to come into service.”

It follows cancellations in sailings to and from Arran and Ardrossan.

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CalMac announced the MV Hebridean Isles’ is facing an ongoing engine issue, meaning services in the morning and early afternoon have been cancelled.

It was announced in August the vessel will be retired as it approaches 40 years of service. It is due to exit service in November.

The two overdue and overbudget vessels – Glen Rosa and the Glen Sannox - under construction by Ferguson Marine are expected to carry passengers on the Arran route when they enter service.

Glen Sannox, which was supposed to be delivered in 2018, has now completed sea trials.

Changes to ferry fares come at a time when ministers have been urged to identify savings in their portfolios amid significant financial challenges.

All ministers were ordered to halt spending in August under emergency controls which allowed public sector pay deals to progress.

Ms Hyslop warned Finance Secretary Shona Robison that the transport budget had been carrying a significant resource deficit since the 2024-25 budget, the Times reported.

The letter, which was released to Scottish Labour under freedom of information legislation, said the transport portfolio had already "identified and released all viable savings in advance of the financial year commencing which holding all remaining discretionary spend as 'last resort savings'."

She said she had extremely limited options for additional savings but added £2 million could be saved by ending concessionary bus fares for asylum seekers.

But warned: "This will not be without backlash". 

The saving was later announced but has led to significant backlash from former government partners the Scottish Greens, with the SNP also voting alongside them in Holyrood last week urging the measure to be restored before the 2026 elections.