From Sunday morning, Shetland’s inter-island ferry service will move to a restricted timetable. The decision has been taken in order to preserve the overall resilience of the service.
The local bus timetable has also been amended so that key workers can, if required, meet the appropriate ferry run.
The new timetables are expected to be in place until at least the end of January 2021.
All ferries should be booked either by phone or online - the booking office will be open on Saturday 2nd from 12 noon till 6.00pm. From Sunday onwards it will be open 8.00am to 5.00pm, seven days a week – call 01595 745804.
A similar approach was taken earlier this year, and the system has been slightly amended to deal with specific COVID 19 risks as we now understand them.
Ryan Thomson is chair of the Council’s Environment and Transport Committee, and the transport partnership ZetTrans: “We’ve taken this decision to preserve the overall reliability of the service. Should any of our crews be required to isolate due to contact tracing for Covid-19, this timetable allows for that to happen with the lowest possible impact on the wider service.”
“I would like to remind folk that, under the current Tier 3 guidelines, our ferries and buses should be used for essential travel only. I understand that this may inconvenience some in the community, but it is important that we all do what we can to limit transmission of the virus, and protect our essential services.”
The revised ferry timetables can be found here: https://www.shetland.gov.uk/ferries/timetable
The revised bus timetables can be found here: https://www.zettrans.org.uk/covid19/ferry-and-bus-timetable-changes-for-january