A petition to that effect is to be placed on the Scottish Parliament's website after a meeting in Oban which was attended by councillors from across the area and, thanks to video-conferencing technology, islanders from Islay, Jura and Colonsay.

The meeting was chaired by Bute councillor Len Scoullar, who also happens to be Argyll and Bute Council's 'island issues' spokesperson, and was attended by the area's Westminster MP Alan Reid.

The gathering also watched a PowerPoint presentation by Highlands and Islands MSP David Stewart, who, as we reported last week, has already put his name, along with that of his Labour colleague Des McNulty, to a similar online 'iPetition' which "deplores" this year's fare increases in the Clyde and Argyll areas.

A note of caution was sounded by Kintyre and the Islands councillor Robin Currie, who said: "I haven't signed David Stewart's petition because I don't 'deplore' the recent fares increases - actually it is good that they only went up 2.2 per cent, and we are fortunate that for islanders, the increases only apply to winter fares.

"However, if there is no review during the three year Western Isles RET experiment, the damage will be done - it is not acceptable to wait three years."

The council's transportation spokesperson, Cllr Duncan MacIntyre, said: "We need as many people as possible to sign our e-petition. When there are more than five thousand signatures it will be discussed by the Parliament's petitions committee.

"I have a gut feeling that RET is not as popular or as robust as it was so I would not like to see the islands where it is being piloted left worse off."

Alan Reid suggested that the inclusion of Cowal's large population will help to increase the number of signatories, but warned: "We have to be sure that the whole RET experiment doesn't stop because of this."

Writing to Argyll and Bute council leader Dick Walsh, transport minister Stewart Stevenson has blamed "budget constraints" for the Scottish Government's inability to put a parallel study in place alongside the RET pilot scheme.

But Mr Reid complained that the money set aside by the previous administration to provide a 40 per cent discount had now gone to the RET pilot.