The project in Shetland will focus on the more traditional forms of public transport, in line with the overall project with our partners.  However, given Shetland’s coastal context, this work cannot be separated from the internal air and ferry services, or from Shetland’s external air and ferry links, because of the need for integration between different modes of transport.

Due to Shetland’s geography and low population, the Shetland partners will be looking for low cost, low technology solutions, appropriate to Shetland’s context.  Shetland already has a ‘call centre’ type approach, provided by the reception staff of the Transport Service.

The information provided through the analysis work with communities and operators has begun to enable Shetland to develop possible options for further development.  Work undertaken in WS2 with partners will enable new options to be developed and others to be refined.

Areas that Shetland would like to develop include:

• Redesigning fixed and flexible route services;
• Improved usage of community minibuses;
• Development of more community owned transport;
• Increased numbers of volunteer drivers;
• Car pools and car clubs;
• How Shetland’s existing Dial-a-Ride system can be adapted to cope with additional usage;
• Improved integration of ticketing, particularly between Shetland’s different modes of transport.

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Shetland’s internal public transport network is made up of mainline bus services, feeder bus and minibus services, shopper services to local and Lerwick shops and Dial-a-Ride services in localities. The services are predominantly run by twenty or so large, medium and small scale operators. The Shetland Islands Council operates the West-side mainline route, subcontracting to one of the larger operators to provide drivers for the service. The specification, tendering, co-ordination and monitoring of these services are undertaken by ZetTrans, Shetland’s Regional Transport Partnership. Shetland Islands Council’s Transport Service specifies, tenders and monitors Shetland’s School Transport. On certain routes, public transport routes are also used to transport school children, and on one route, school transport is available to the public. Shetland has undertaken considerable work with communities, user groups and operators to establish what is required in terms of access by public transport in Shetland. There have been a number of stages to this work, including Area Transport Forums, analysis of usage figures and routes, and discussions with operators.

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Shetland’s focus for the Work Stream 2 element of the project will be on investigating and assessing: Current and future legislation; Models of financing public and community transport; Existing models of co-ordinating public and community transport; Current examples of good practice, including car clubs and car pools in remote rural areas.

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The key area of work for Shetland will be to be able to successfully bring together a number of different low-key solutions in an integrated and user friendly way. The needs of users are different; therefore a number of diverse options may be required to provide for those who are unable to provide their own private transport. Customer satisfaction and impact on people’s ability to access opportunities, and therefore improve their quality of life, will be a key element.

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Transport Strategy officer Elaine J Park + 44 1595 743957 firstname.surname@shetland.gov.uk

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