The consultants working on the scheme for the Scottish Government have been asked to monitor the operation of the pilot and, once it is finished, provide an evaluation of the exercise. This will allow decisions to be taken on future ferry fares in Scotland.

A report on options for the scheme will be the main output of the first phase of the study. This will be published soon. The second phase of the study will involve the monitoring of the pilot study, including the gathering of traffic statistics and information from, for example, ferry users and local employers (including the freight and tourist sectors) designed to allow the impact of the pilot (especially in economic and social terms) to be assessed.

The third phase of the study will involve an evaluation of the pilot, making use of the information gathered through the baseline and monitoring exercises. In addition to assessing the impact of the pilot, the evaluation should attempt, as far as is possible, to quantify both the costs and benefits which would arise should RET be applied on a permanent basis and rolled out to other ferry routes in the Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles networks and the likely longer-term impacts of such a roll out. This stage should seek to identify any capacity constraints that would emerge from a permanent roll out and quantify the cost of increasing the capacity to meet demand.