BUS services on Arran still don’t meet the extra ferries, despite the savings that passengers are making this summer under RET, which was introduced late last year.  SPT, who provide the service, have said that at the moment there are no plans to add to the existing services, which they revealed cost the public more than £700,000 every year.  Once RET (Road Equivalent Tariff) for Arran has been in place for a year it will be assessed by the Scottish Government.  Despite this, SPT say they are investing in the island.  A spokesperson said: “The impact of RET on Arran is still to be assessed, with the Scottish Government having engaged a firm of consultants to report on it after it has been in place for a full year.

“There are no plans to add to the existing bus network on the island, which already costs the public over £710,000 per year to subsidise.

"The cost of providing additional bus journeys for the second ferry in 2013 was very substantial and, in the event, the buses were lightly used.  “Worthy as the tourism dimension may be, SPT is, unfortunately, not provided with a budget to fund it, with that responsibility lying with organisations such as Visit Scotland.

“In recent times, SPT has shown great commitment to Arran.

"We have made a capital investment of £1.6m in new buses, offered £1m for the construction of a dedicated bus station area in the new ferry terminal, grant-funded North Ayrshire Council over £300,000 to make the roads suitable for low-floor bus operations and we are working on plans for real-time passenger information”.

And Calmac revealed that during the summer months, more people have been hopping into their cars and heading to ‘Scotland in Miniature’ rather than heading on foot.  During June and July of this year, over 40,000 cars have been shipped which is a massive increase on the figure of under 30,000 for 2014.

And July saw over 100,000 foot passengers use the service, with both months seing more passengers using the ferries.  With a 40 per cent increase in car use in June and 42 per cent in July, it is clear that people are taking use of the lower priced fares.