Digital ferry vouchers reminder

If you have a National Entitlement Card and are looking forward to a trip away this summer, please make sure the digital ferry vouchers have been successfully added to your card before travel. 

The free ferry vouchers for eligible concessionary residents (for use on Pentland Firth, Aberdeen & Shetland routes) moved to digital on 1 April this year, meaning that entitlement is now loaded onto residents existing cards as opposed to posting out paper vouchers. 

The Transport Scotland App (search Transport Scot Pass Collect) checks entitlement and collects any available digital ferry vouchers to the National Entitlement Card (elderly or disabled) or Young Scot Card (young people). 

The Council’s Transportation Service are assisting eligible residents where required, with support also available from the ferry operators and various ‘help spots’ across the county.   

The team have received some reports of residents struggling to successfully load the digital ferry vouchers onto their existing cards.  Assistance is available from the Council or at help spots, however in some instances, residents have had to apply for a new card which can take up to ten working days.  

Our advice is to make sure that you have the digital ferry vouchers added to your card at least two weeks before you are due to travel – but even sooner if you can.   

Some residents have waited until the day of travel to ask ferry operators to load the digital vouchers onto their card, leaving no time to resolve any problems should they occur.  As the ferry operators have limited time at the point of check in, we would ask that residents please ensure that the digital ferry vouchers are pre-loaded onto the card to prevent paying at the point of travel. 

The Council held pop-up events to help with the move to digital ferry vouchers in March, and we are planning to host another one on Thursday 30 May at Orkney Library, Kirkwall from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm. 

In the meantime, if you require help with your digital ferry vouchers, please contact OIC Customer Services (Kirkwall & Stromness), Transportation Service, Orkney Library, Stromness Library, or one of the other ‘help spots’ as listed on the help sheet issued to eligible residents:- Age Scotland Orkney, Development Trusts on Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre, Shapinsay, Stronsay, Westray, THAW and Eday Partnership Wellbeing Team. 

For background information please head here: https://www.orkney.gov.uk/News?postid=8952