Scotland has quite a few islands. Just under 800, in fact. Islands are, by definition, difficult to get to, due to their being surrounded by water on all sides, and Humza Yousaf wants to fix that.
According to the National, the first minister is ‘open’ to discussions about underwater tunnels which would improve transport across some of Scotland’s northern isles.
Speaking to the paper, Yousaf explained that the party has never been against subsea ‘fixed links’, but that budget constraints mean that any plans are unlikely to happen for a few years yet. He said: ‘Our capital budget is really constrained, but we’re definitely open to conversations about fixed links and a number of island communities are working on feasibility studies.’
Although this is a pretty tepid ‘maybe’ from Yousaf, it has been met with some criticism online. One tweet which replied to the original article from the National, said: ‘There is no train link from Glasgow Airport to the city centre.’ The sentiment seemed to resonate with quite a few people, as the post gained 17,000 likes in less than 24 hours.
There is no train link from Glasgow Airport to the city centre. https://t.co/OCOgNB502n
But those who live on the Shetland islands and other similar locations have been advocating for their homes to be better served for years now, with one member of the Shetland Islands Council saying: ‘The importance of the inter-island transport network to life in Shetland cannot be overestimated. It is the very definition of a lifeline service and is the social and economic backbone of the islands.’
Whether or not the islands will be getting their flowers soon remains to be seen, but one thing is almost for certain. Glasgow Airport will remain difficult to get to and generally pretty rubbish for at least another 10 years. And then probably 10 more after that. And so on, and so on, and so on…
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Transport is one of those things you have to use every. Single. Day. So, of course we at Time Out keep up with what’s going on in the world of all things getting around. For instance, did you see that Brighton’s much-loved seafront railway has reopened for summer 2024? If trains aren’t your thing, maybe you’d prefer to discover all the new places TUI will be flying to from next year, or why the 100ml rule isn’t being scrapped at certain airports just yet.
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