YOUR VIEWS: Bus timetables and electric vehicle charging
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Diverse views from our readers.
Reorganise city bus timetables
As COP27 takes place, residents in Inverness may question how this impacts us locally.
It’s been well reported that Scotland’s biggest contribution to pollution comes from transport.
Yet look at the continued and ongoing issues with buses in our city.
This morning’s cancellation list on Twitter is vast (see Stagecoach Highland Twitter feed).
This is resulting in continued uncertainty for passengers and in no way is encouraging car users to switch modes of transport.
We’ve been long promised improvements by Stagecoach, but when was the last time on a weekday that a full timetable ran without major cancellations?
This situation cannot continue.
Why cannot Stagecoach reorganise a timetable to one that they can run, even if it means fewer services for now?
Also, Stagecoach rarely responds to customer emails.
This isn’t good enough for a publicly subsidised service. We deserve better.
James Rorison
Pinewood Court
Inverness
Plan for end-of-life care increase
Public Health Scotland’s figures released earlier this week have shown that people in the most deprived areas are 74 per cent more likely to die from cancer.
This is shocking, but sadly not surprising.
At Marie Curie Scotland, we know that living in deprived areas worsens health outcomes for terminally ill people.
This is often because of longstanding health inequalities and inequities around access to palliative care support.
Those living in socio-economically deprived areas are less likely to come forward for support, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic when health and social care services were overwhelmed.
The impact of the pandemic led to changes, delays, or cancellations of treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and as a result there has been an increased risk of cancer diagnoses becoming terminal.
Palliative care demand is also rising sharply, with Marie Curie research revealing that by 2040, up to 95 per cent of all people who die in Scotland may need palliative care.
The number of people dying from more than one terminal condition, such as cancer and organ failure for example, will also have risen by 80 per cent by 2040.
As a result, disease trajectories will be more complex, and this means different and sometimes increased palliative care needs.
There is greater need for the coordination of relevant health and social care services.
The Scottish Government’s upcoming cancer strategy must ensure palliative care is fully integrated in the long-term, and prioritised in the short-term, to manage a potential increase in demand in palliative care services.
Finally, the cancer strategy’s priorities must also align with the Scottish Government’s upcoming palliative care strategy and National Care Service to ensure equity of access to palliative care, through an inclusion health approach, to ensure that vulnerable and socially excluded groups can access the support that they need.
Only then will we be able to break the link between poverty and poor health outcomes in Scotland.
Ellie Wagstaff
Senior Policy Manager, Scotland
Marie Curie
Charging price rises proposed
Highland Council has proposed significant price rises for use of electrical vehicle (EV) charging points, to offset maintenance costs. The current tariff is 30p per kilowatt hour and the council suggests an increase to 86p. However, members of the council’s climate change committee refused to back the plan, asking for more information about costs. The climate committee does not have the final say on financial matters, but has asked the economy committee to hold off on applying the hike.
“I am absolutely astonished by this proposal. Whilst I accept that this venture cannot be run at a loss, putting this into place would destroy any hope of EV take-up, especially if the costs per unit are more than ICE vehicles... If this proposal is accepted, you may as well shut down all your charging points, as I as a typical EV driver and many others will just not use them and hence your costs to just maintain will be increased as you will have minimum income. We are trying to invigorate EV driving not destroy it at the first opportunity.”
– Alec, Forres
“Running down for our major shop in Inverness will become untenable in our 30kWh Nissan Leaf which would require four or five charges for the round trip. It will also be difficult to afford the trip to Raigmore. I guess there might be an argument that it would encourage competitor suppliers to instal their equipment and expand the EV charging capacity in the Highlands. That would be good but at the expense of the Highland Council’s loss in revenue because of extortionate pricing... There is a risk of that loss already with supermarket charging being cheaper than ChargePlace Scotland. Personally I’d like to see some renewables (wind/solar) backing up the charging infrastructure where appropriate so that eventually the system can work to support itself. Perhaps add a levy to wind farms to help maintain the network, they already make community fund contributions where they don’t have the far better community funding option of Baillie Hill (residents in catchment can apply for grant aid for renewables). Maybe money can go to supporting chargers in the local catchment. We need some creative thinking!”
– Steve Marquis, Thurso
“If you can stay cost neutral or allow to invest then you already know the costs. Why defer then? Especially if a decision is needed immediately? Why should the rest of us subsidise the EV drivers while the council dithers?
– James Moir, Inverness
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