Prior to the introduction of the Road Equivalent Fares (RET) in October 2008, fares for commercial vehicles (CVs) were set on a route-specific basis. In October 2008 the RET pilot was introduced on routes serving the Western Isles Coll and Tiree where the fare was set around the equivalent cost of driving the same distance. This resulted in significant reductions in CV ferry fares.

In April 2012 RET fares for CVs were removed resulting in large annual increases in single fares, both in percentage terms (up to 50%) and absolute terms (up to £100).

The intention of the removal of CV RET fares was to return fares to their pre-RET level. Given, however, the scale and potential impacts of the increases, transitional arrangements were put in place to limit the increases and allow the full increase to be phased in over three years.