This petition is extremely important because there has been minimal engagement from The Shetland Islands Council or ZetTrans despite large numbers of complaints being made by students. The petition was started because the current bus service is having a negative effect on students and their education.

The current service provided is insufficient for the majority of students who rely on buses as transport. Without frequent buses, students are being affected by such matters as: walking far distances; facing bad weather; lack of flexibility; no transport suiting course times; hours of waiting; leaving classes early to catch other transport; little or no time to use facilities in town; having to look for alternative transport etc. With an improved service these problems would diminish.

The reduced bus service is not only impacting college students but also school pupils who attend Skills for Work / Vocational Pathways classes at the college every Friday. It is unacceptable to expect these pupils to walk two miles into town through an industrial and exposed area of Lerwick (as they are currently doing). This needs to change.

We believe there are already solutions to the problem, considering there is an hourly service from Scalloway to Lerwick that passes the junction into Gremista which could be adapted to stop at Shetland College at certain times. There is also a bus company just below the college were many ZetTrans buses are based through the day. We feel if we can get enough signatures and attention to the matter then the bus service to and from the college can change for the better.  

We respectfully request that The Shetland Islands Council and ZetTrans get in contact with The Shetland College and improve the service to and from the college to ensure flexibility and convenience for all of whom rely on buses as their transport.