Serious consideration must be given to why people travel as fare caps are set for B.C. Ferry Services Inc.'s next performance term, ferry commissioner Martin Crilly said.
“We have to start working on that now to get all the data together and figure out what's going to happen,” Crilly said in an interview yesterday.
Under B.C. Ferries' contract with the province, as set up in 2003, maximum fares and core service levels are negotiated for four-year performance terms. The current one ends in March, 2012.
Crilly said decisions will need to be made on how to balance the need to put more money into rejuvenating the publicly-owned ferry company's aging fleet with the fact traffic levels have been flat, putting a hole in the company's revenues.
“The expectations for traffic level have not been met,” he said, noting traffic is at the same level it was at in 2003. “We were expecting something like one percent a year growth.”
He said he didn't know why traffic hasn't grown, especially as customers report high levels of satisfaction with the service. “We have to really think about why people travel,” he said.
Crilly yesterday announced the price caps would increase on April 1 by 2.68 percent on the three major routes between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland and by 5.68 percent on all other routes, following a formula based on the B.C. consumer price index.
Since 2003 fares have increased by 40 percent on the major routes and by 60 percent on the minor routes.
“In the past decade the relative costs of what is for us part of the highway system have skyrocketed,” Salt Spring Island resident Irene Wright said in an e-mail message. Fare hikes add to the cost of everything brought to the island, she said.
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.
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Gary
2 years ago
I'll tell you why
there has been no growth in ferry traffic (since the Liberals castrated the system in 2003. It's because we don't have the bloody money to pay these outrageous fares that supply Top Management with outrageous wages.
That's why.
Haven't they ever heard of dropping fares so the ridership would increase? Most likely increasing their bottom line.
brewster789
2 years ago
Is this guy for real?
Mr. Crilly, I can give you a hint as to why "expectations for traffic level have not been met".
You have priced yourselves out of reach for the average family to use the service more than absolutely neccessary!
Is that any help?
sunshine coast girl
2 years ago
I've been living in a ferry dependent community....
for 42 years. We used to leave the Coast all the time. We had resident lanes to ensure we loaded, we had resident fares that we all could afford. We had Sunday night supper at my grandparents' house in West Vancouver every weekend. As a teenager, my friends and I travelled to the city for various reasons nearly every single weekend, and we (gasp!) always took cars. Our sports teams could afford to travel without subsidys. We went to dr.'s appts. and dentists' appts. We went to afternoon movies at Park Royal. Sometimes, we just went to "get off the rock" for a few hours.
And we had more service and late night sailings! We didn't have to spend the night if we went to a concert or show. We had a real, live restaurant at the terminal and it didn't look like you were entering a concentration camp when exiting the ship.
Now, it is so expensive to travel that we all "save" our reasons for going to the city.
Tourists will NEVER be the lifeline of BC Ferries. Residents are. Twelve months a year, 7 days a week. Maybe the new boats are way too big and way too expensive for what we need. This is part of our highway; not an EXTRA! And until BC Ferries and Martin Crilly figure that out; they are doomed to fail. Surely they have already seen that tourists have balked at paying the outrageous cost.
And by the way, whoever says our fares have increased by 40% since 2003 is deliberately mistaken. Ours have gone up by over 100%.
Frank
2 years ago
Things that make you go hmmm
"'We have to really think about why people travel': ferry commissioner"
One can only wonder what a people-moving company used to think about.
alive
2 years ago
it's the fares, stupid!
No doubt the ferry management will set aside a few hundred thousand dollar for a "study"!
They obviously do not understand that we are not likely to travel at those fares, unless absolutely necessary.
Thank You Gordo, for another service all screwed up!
happy
2 years ago
sun coast girl
I moved to the Coast 10 years ago. Then, to the best if my recollection, the fare for a car and driver was 32.50 roundtrip.
Last week it was 48.05.
Where do you get this over 100% increase from?
I agree about the concentration camp overkill.
I don't agree about the fares scaring tourists off. A tank of gas to fill up thr RV costs more than the ferry.
sunshine coast girl
2 years ago
Well Happy...
To my recollection a book of 10 walk-on tickets was $50 and a book of 5 car and driver tickets was $125. My husband was working in town everyday and coached the kids baseball and hockey teams (who travelled).
And being as how I was working in the terminal office at the time and selling those tickets to customers, my recollection is probably a bit better than yours, wouldn't you say?
And by the way, the fare used to be for a car and driver combined - not separated like it is now.
I guess you'll have to ask the Vancouver Island Hotel Association if they agree with you about fares not scaring tourists off. And our own Visitor Centre.
happy
2 years ago
Sun girl
You are using the discount numbers for buying tickets in bulk.
I was using the full fare. That was sneaky of you.
So its high ferry fares that have caused tourist traffic to fall across the board in ALL of BC then?
The recession has nothing to do with it?
Border hassles?
Come on.
freebear
2 years ago
Makes you wonder how these 'thinkers'
like Crilly, ever became a commissioner of a transportation system used by people to travel!!