Even better known is the fact that B.E.A. services to sparsely populated areas and islands in the far north and west lose some £500,000 a year, which is cross-subsidised from other B.E.A. services. [...] The total extent of subsidising and cross-subsidising public transport in large areas of Scotland is, he believes, over £17 million a year, or £14 a head of the population in the regions concerned.
Source: wiktionary