PSO is the only way to protect
Benbecula’s air service
As Professor Kay explains, in an exclusive interview with Am Pàipear, any operator can make a route commercially profitable, but to operate it as such will not necessarily be in the best public interest. It may be, for example, that the best way to ensure a ferry service is viable, would be to run it once a week, or to only provide a car ferry with no additional facilities for foot passengers.
However, for a remote community, such a limited service may be unacceptable, forcing many to leave their communities in order to be able to work (if the ferry ran a daily return service they may be able to commute). Such a service may be the death knell for local businesses who are dependent on more regular access to the mainland. But for the ferry operator, the service is all that they could reasonably provide while remaining profitable.
This is the reason governments provide subsidies to operators – so that they will provide a level of service that is in the best public interest while ensuring that the operator is adequately compensated for doing so (what the UK calls subsidy, the EC calls compensation).
As Professor Kay elaborates on his website: ‘A PSO represents an obligation which a ferry operator would not adopt if they were considering solely their own commercial interest, for example holding fares down to a certain level, running a service with a minimum level of frequency, or running the service all year round.
‘It is recognized in EC law that a case can be made for imposing PSOs to help support vulnerable communities for economic and social reasons.’
