My god! The last time I took a BC Ferry, I was shocked! Rust everywhere, unfriendly staff, especially in the cafe, and a general run down appearence.

I do take Washington state ferry's time to time and I must say a pleasent difference. The much older boats are clean and in good repair, the staff friendly and the food services, though spartan, are not bad.

Bennet senior must be spinning in his grave to what Campbell & Co. have done to his once proud fleet!

I have to wonder what Gordo's Gang hoped to achieve with the privatization of BC Ferries.

Let's face it: there's little difference in ferry service between then and now, but the cost of debt servicing is considerably higher, thus driving up costs.

But Gordo surely would have known this before.

So again, what were they hoping to achieve?

Why when the Ferries deep thinkers were looking for some boat to assist this summer, did they not go rent a couple of the fast ferries. Oh I sort of forgot. Gordon doesn't like them. Those boats could do the route almost twice as fast as the one ferry running now. yes the weather can get heavy between the islands. But most of the time those fast ferries could do the job. the system may supposedly be a private company but let's face it, we still folk over the money from government coffers to keep the system running.Shame on you Gordon. another deal turned sour. Next time you happen to be in the Legislature maybe you can tell us what your next grand plan is going to be. By the way the fuel surcharge was going to be until the fuel costs went down. reports indicate that oil is at the lowest cost now than in the past 18 months. Hahn has his hand in your pockets and isn't about to take it out.

That's easy. They got it off the books. Even though the only shareholder is the crown, as a private company they don't have to show the ferry books in their balance sheet, allowing them to give a false impression of the state of the province's books. For that, they don't have to show the books at all, either to the public or the Auditor General. Also no access through their amended 'freedom from information' laws

They did that a lot. Made it easier to maintain false claims of prosperity by hiding the truth. Cut access to welfare to pretend nobody needs welfare. Cut Legal Aid so the poor won't be always asserting their rights. Cut social workers, cut the coroner's service, then warehouse dead children's files without scrutiny.

The list of things Liberals did away with to save themselves from having to admit their shortcomings must be very big.

I know, let's make a list! Something fun to do on a snowy Saturday.

I was listening to comments from folks who couldn't get to the hospitals unless they pay to fly to the place. Oh well a revised wait list shouldn't take more than a number of months. I note the boat is getting its seal changed in a US yard. Too bad they never heard of the yards in Vancouver or Victoria. It was in no danger of sinking. Hopefully the one they get fixed at US prices will work better than the speed controllers they got rebuilt by a outside contractor. The crew best check for leaks and of course keep the anchor chains ready in case they have to stop real quick. More money that could be spent in this provicne and taxes could have been collected.

The Govt. shouldn't run a company of any kind. But we got ourselves into this with BC Hydro, ICBC and BC Ferries based on an ongoing socialist agenda that has taken over Canada ( Wheat Bord, Dairy Board, Egg Marketing Board, stump age rates, expensive milk, bread and eggs are a Canadian pastime.
Medical Care???????????????????? I can only speculate that this Dino's goin down soon. Thank God.

God Ron, What are you talking about? You're the only dino around here.

to DPL:
- Ketchikan is much closer to Prince Ruper than Vancouver/Victoria. That's why the repair is done in Ketchikan. Ketchikan is closer to Rupert, then Vancouver is to Hardy. Ketchikan also has experience in northern ferry ships similar to QPR, ie. the Alaska blue canoe vessels.

A general comment:
- why is is that whenever "Ferries" are mentioned in BC, such as in this Tyee article, that the conversation turns to politics and an immediate Campbell bashing or Clark bashing?

Why can't the discussion just focus on the ferries and the ferry-service issues? Why does it quickly turn into the right-vs-left debate?

I guess this is the nature of BC: that everything quickly degenerates to politics.

Or maybe that's the nature of Tyee, to debate BC politics through the news stories of the day.

Heather Ramsay's article here has the headline of "quality of service rises", the opening paragraph comments that service has never been better, and the closing paragraph says "Lucky for B.C. Ferries, they can show -- after the Queen of the North sank -- a surprising leap. All of a sudden the sailings were on-time 90 per cent of the time."

I've just re-read her article twice now, trying to figure out what those "sensational" opening comments & closing comments are referring to. I can't see the 90% comment referred to anywhere else in her article, nor does she explain what the 90% means.

Heather does explain the improvement of on-time departures from 30% to 40% from 2004 to 2005....but what about her closing comment about the 90%. What is this supposed to mean, other than a closing comment to incite more negative rhetoric against BC Ferries?

Now, Heather has provided a link to the BC Ferry Commission's service-quality reports. I suspect that if we read all of those reports, then her 90% concluding-comment might make sense.

However, it does seem like a sensational slam comment, that she doesn't really explain.....which is a good start to the rhetoric on this issue.

Let's just throw out some stats, weave them into the headline and opening/closing paragraphs, insert some sad instances of QCI trips missed, and that's the way to incite a revolution!

This rant is incited by what I perceive as rhetoric......that's this new guy's hot button.

Cheers!

FlugelHorn

It's known as irony. Read that opening again - it'll come clear. The idea that the north coast routes had NO regular car ferry service is central to the idea that any measure of service quality and reliability has to be taken with a lot of salt.

Dear FlugelHorn;

That's two questions;
1. Why does mention of the Ferries deal incite negative comment?, and
2. What the heck was the article about anyway?

There are answers for both.

1. Because the BC Ferries deal was both typical of and at the heart of the fraud perpetrated by the BC Liberal party. Before they were elected there was considerable comment about three items. The electorate knew they had an ideology, and were concerned to protect their property. The liberals promised faithfully and swore publically that they had heard the words of the people and would not, repeat not:

-Sell BC Rail
-Sell BC Hydro
-Privatize BC Ferries

All three were lies.

All three were very valuable and profitable properties of the people of BC, Paid for at great expense over decades, if not generations. We didn't want them wrecked, we didn't want them in the hands of anyone who might use them against us. We are a resourse economy. We need a railway. Whoever owns our railway controls us forever. If appearances have any relationship to truth crooks now own it, bribes bought it, and the cops disgraced our legislature gathering the evidence.

As to Hydro, the premier personally flew to the US to recruit the accountants not indicted for running Enron to take over Hydro, I think right after they changed their name in court to Accenture to avoid the obvious impression Arthur Andersen carried.

And the ferries are quite obvious. Without them the hundreds of thousands of British Columbians who live on the dozens of islands that make up such a large part of this province are stranded. Every government has had to deal with the expense of mountain highways and BC Ferries. Huge expense. Very hard to pretend this province can have huge surplusses year after year unless you can bury the costs of that. So they did a phony sale. Nobody but us are on the hook for that expense, but we no longer have the right to examine the books or the records.

A situation designed to deceive, and hide the truth from those who own it.

The story above clearly casts doubt upon their committment to veracity, since they claim that chartered planes and stranded passengers and complete lack of service for long periods constitute huge increases in efficiency and service.

A short comment on my choice of the word fraud in the above post:

fraud  /frɔd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[frawd] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun 1. deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.
2. a particular instance of such deceit or trickery: mail fraud; election frauds.
3. any deception, trickery, or humbug: That diet book is a fraud and a waste of time.
4. a person who makes deceitful pretenses; sham; poseur.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1300–50; ME fraude < OF < ML fraud- (s. of fraus) deceit, injury]

—Related forms
fraudful, adjective
fraud‧ful‧ly, adverb

—Synonyms 1. See deceit. 3. wile, hoax.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

I believe that lies told to get a benefit from the rightful owners constitutes fraud, whether it can be prosecuted or not.

Yeah, I get the irony in the headline....I'm just wanting a better explanation of the writer's "90%" closing comment. So I guess I'm just critiquing her writing style.

Her closing zinger isn't explained...and so that's why it comes across as cheap to me.

Pardon the flurry of posts from me, but this topic interests me.

Those interested in the northern ferry routes may be interested to know that the replacement vessel "Sonia" is currently at the Canary Islands, on her trip from Greece to Victoria.

A Victoria shipyard will be doing the work on Sonia, re renovations/upgrades etc. She's only 2 years old, and was recently used as a ferry in the Caribbean.

I'm thinking that she will enter service by late spring 2007.

Bailey,

I would like to compliment you on a clear and cogent post (made two hours ago). Though I've heard/read explanations of the Hydro, Ferry, and Rail atrocities many times, never have I seen it put so clearly. I will print your post for use in the next election. I believe that every candidate that may be running against this government in the next election needs to have a copy of this for their volunteers and staff come election time.
Thank you, and peace be with you. We know that the Libs as a party are selfish and unthoughful, they don't believe Sharing Is Good.

Dear SharingIsGood;

Thank you for your kind words, you're welcome to make any use you like. I hope you will proofread for spelling.

I'm a terrible speller.

A whole lot of the problem is that while the NDP was in control of the ferries they did nothing re: repairs or budgeting for the acquisition of new boats for ten years!! (except for the $500,000.00 fiasco with aluminum ferries) Considering that it takes 5-8 years to get a new boat built and on the water I think they are doing pretty darn good under these circumstances.
Things I`m loving about B.C. Ferries being out of Government hands:

No wild cat strikes
Running on time
Nicer amenities coming on board all the time.

BC Ferries runs exactly as far off schedule as they always did. The delays haven't changed a bit as far as I can tell. They do charge me a buck to pick up my kids from their late ferries now, though. That's new.

The NDP didn't hide the books. The NDP did train many hundreds of BC shipworkers in modern aluminum shipbuilding techniques. Sorry it cost you so much Max. It would have cost way more to train them in our community colleges, and we wouldn't have had those two nice boats for the Libs to give away so spectacularly.

Why don't you see if you can make an offer on one of those fastcats, just to find out what the owners think they're worth. I thought it was odd when they'd offered $60, million for them previously, that the Liberals would insist on the auction so they could let them go for $20 million. When the mere salvage was worth much more than that.

No part of the article above has anything to do with anything the NDP did or didn't do. It's about a recent report which appears to be rather misleading.

This tactic of howling "fastcat! fastcat!" everytime the Liberals get criticized for their odd business practices is wearing a bit thin, don't you think? It's also rather misleading.

And what about the change in parking regulations. Now the bastards charge if you're there to make a pickup for God's sake...not to mention the crazy way reservations work. Delayed more than a minute past the 30 minute grace period and your reservation - and the 17 buck fee (used to be 15) disappears into David Hahn's huge greed maw.

As for amenities - you've got to be kidding...white spot on the waves - yeh right.

The ferry system forms part of our major highway from the mainland to the Capitol City of BC and is now 99.99% private. It is like selling a provincial highway. Does this make any sense at all?
** I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT GORDON CAMPBELL HAS PROMISED AND WHAT HE HAS DONE TO THE PROVINCE OF BC! I REALLY CAN'T....

No wild cat strikes, Running on time
Nicer amenities coming on board all the time.says Maxwell.

If that person thinks about it for a moment or two, the ferry workers offered to shut things down, unless a few things changed. Hahn did his usual, Union nasty comments. But soon a long term collective was in place. Long enough so Gordo won't have to worry about ferry issues till after the big games event. Did Hahn strike a deal on his own? Not likely, he was told to do so, which proves to most of us that the system is not private. The books are private.
And there are still a number of late schedule arrivals and departures, and folks are noticing the rusty edges. Breakdowsn are becoming regular events.Anything for a buck Hahn is in our pockets. Remember the fuel surcharges? Will go down as the price goes down. Oil is at its lowest level right now in over 18 months. Parking for simply stopping long enough to pick up a foot passenger is weird as governments push the idea of less driving and more foot passengers.Only in BC under Gordo does such a mess occur

I must say I disagree with the assertion that the amenities have improved as well.

Ferries used to be comfortable. The seats were arranged in little booths where your whole party could settle in and have a nice time. Or you could read your book with your feet up. And there was always a good chance of meeting a fellow traveller when you'd find yourselves sharing a booth, and a conversation. It was a very human setup, one that islanders found congenial and comfortable.

Now with every refit the bloody things more amd more resemble American airports. The seats are supremely, painfully uncomfortable, nailed to the floor so there's no chance of choice, and facing away from each other in a way that seems positively designed to discourage passengers from making eye contact, let alone actually meeting.

I remember my first ride on the Queen of Coquitlam, there was a chef and a dining room, and you could take a date on a round trip. Dinner and a little sea cruise. THAT was an amenity. And you could get a little stateroom, if you were lucky and not too many cabinet ministers were trying to avoid us regular folks. That was also an amenity.

The chef in his white hat is gone, and so are the cabins.

But even the reduced rental food quality was made more tolerable by the nice fat chairs that faced each other. A ferry ride was an event to look forward to, before this privatization. A bit of a social occasion.

Now, not so much. Just uncomfortable.

...Cabins and a dining-room on the Queen of Coquitlam?? I learn something new every day.

I agree with the points on the new seating vs old seating on the C-Class ships. I liked the old "booth style" better too.

Now, to link the seating-style change to privitisation is too much a stretch for me.

However, I'd enjoy a ferry ride, no matter the public/private structure and no matter which gov't is in power at the time.

pure said,

The Ferries will be maintained no different than our privatized highway maintenance, “LOUSY” and “Dangerous”.

Say what you want but the Ferries were neglected by all politicians of all stripes for years and that especially goes for Mao Tse Glen, who instead of ugradding facilities and buidling the vessels BC Ferries wanted built the three giantic white elephants I can see from my office windown. How many new major vessels since 1976? FIVE!!!!

Making the Ferres seld running was dessigned to make decisions based in service, not on politics.

This is too much! It is time for a complete change at BC Ferries. David Hahn has shuffled the deck chairs at the Ferry Corporation for far too long. The proposition that service has improved this year, while one ferry sinks with two passengers on board is the last straw. Without any accurate information as to what happened on the Queen of the North, the public is free to think the worst which is that the accident was caused by criminal negligence causing death. That no one has been charged with obstruction of justice is a disgrace to every British Columbian.

The debacle of the Fast Cats is still with us. Regardless of political interference, BC Ferries has failed to provide the essential services they are chartered to give.

This is a mockery of justice and common sense, the latest in a long line. It makes me truly sick to my stomach to live in this province.

I sincerely hope that the passengers who were on the Queen of the North win a hefty settlement against the BC Ferry Corporation, but I hope that the truth about the sinking comes out soon.

Judging from the reader-feedback here, Heather Ramsay could likley have reduced her story content to just the following words:

"BC Ferries."

That 2 word story would have likely resulted in the same feedback as this here story has received.

This comment of mine isn't a critisism of the reader-feedback, but rather an observation that those trigger-words bring up some strong opinions and emotions amongst British Columbians of all sorts, no matter what the specific content of the story.

I'm not sure how many commenters actually ride the ferry, but I do. I do every week; in fact, I commute to my job in Victoria using the BC Ferry. Twice each week I use the ferry system, and ya know what? It doesn't suck.

The service *has* improved lately, so much so that I've noticed a difference, and I'm as cynical as they come.

Sure, it might not seem like much, but when was the last time you were in a restaurant where the cashier told you that it didn't look like the cook had given you enough scrambled eggs and got you some more?

When was the last time that your Starbuck's barista said "It's on the house" when you realized you left your change in the car?

When was the last time McDonald's told your daughter that refills were free?

Or checking under your hood, an employee came up and offered to have a look at your rad, and command an emergency exit for your vehicle off the ferry to a waiting serviceman with a jerry can of water and directions to the nearest gas station?

I've seen ferry employees do a courtesy wake up knock on the car windows of sleeping passengers on the 7am ferry to Swartz Bay. I've seen them change the TV to a local hockey game, chase "escaped" dogs, hand out water bottles to overheated passengers last summer, make jokes on the PA system, and no request or passenger tirade seems to ruffle their feathers.

Now, there's a lot that could improve--the cost, the hidden cost of reservations on the early sailings, the fact that I can't get a tuneup on the car deck while I wait. But hey, I could be spending 3 hours a *day* commuting from Maple Ridge to Vancouver, alone and exhausted with a bunch of crazed Lower Mainland drivers.

Give me 3 hours twice a week on a slow moving boat with a gorgeous view and some friendly people--it's worth the $52.50 each way.

At the risk of being a called a spam-bot, if you are interesting in discussing ferry issues or all sorts, you might enjoy some of the discussion going on at:

http://ferriesbc.proboards20.com/index.cgi

I participate in the above noted forum, and there's a wide range of types/interest who frequent that place....ranging from the politically-interested, to the coastal-history-interested, to the photograper-interested, to the teenage-ship-enthusiast.

But promoting that website is not why I'm participating here at Tyee....I've been reading Tyee for about a year, and I really enjoy it, both the stories and the feedback. Discussion is a very good thing.

maxinejones
Some valid points about the 'staff' who work for BC Ferries - but hardly anything new - I've had those experiences - especially on the first ferry of the day from both Swartz Bay and Tsawassen for years. I don't think there's anything new about them.

The money grab for short-term parking revenue, the complex of problems over reservations and arrival times and the constant string of breakdowns and safety lapses are all, in my view, new and crucial. And the food, especially the plastic Whitespot crap, is terrible.

Try joining the crush of walk-on customers (who can't afford the $52.50) if you really want to be treated like cattle.

It is, and the corporation never wanted to build them. Instead, they wanted two more Spirit boats and upgraded dock facilities, many of them having been neglected for 20+ years. They also also wanted to replace a host of smaller vessels.

Glenn and his masters wanted the fastcats. And we got them. I am looking at them from my office window now.

working man
How is it that someone who hates the Clark government as much as you do forgets Glen (that’s G L E N) Clark hasn't lead a government in BC since 1999. I guess it's that view that keeps you from moving on. My understanding is the fast cats have moved on but the fat cats are in charge big time these days.

Funny, but I think we may well be worse off.

Have you checked out what Campbell has set up for his friends in the power generation business?

Who's your daddy?

Quality of service rises??? Ha! What have ferry managers been smoking??? Here on the Gulf Islands we've lost the coffee bar on the Mayne Queen; on the mainland run the Queen of Nanaimo waits and waits and waits at the terminal while the more important folks on the Swartz Bay/Tsawwassen and Duke Point/Tsawwassen runs get priority loading and unloading. Gulf Islanders are definitely 5th class passengers in the eyes of BC Ferry Management. And the fare increases--while the more important routes get minimal increases the Gulf Islands routes have seen increases of more than 25%. When the Liberals were in opposition some of them were heard to endorse the concept of reasonable subsidies to the Gulf Islands as they then reckoned the ferry system to be part of the highway network. Now that they're in power and determined to make everything 'cost efficient' any notion of fair treatment has gone right out the window. And as far as privitization is concerned, that is a joke--the government is the single shareholder in the operation. The ferry system should be back as a part of the Ministry of Transportation and let's get rid of all this "private corporation" nonsense, starting at the top with the CEO.

Sorry, just arrived. No-one has mentioned that when Campbell made the ferries private he could no longer borrow at Govt. rates, so the tens of millions needed to have those ships built in Germany and every penny needed hereafter for whatever reason is borrowed at market rates. So he's screwed us again.
Could someone do the math?

maxinejones: Really, I think it's because so many of us have had exactly those lovely experiences with the crews of BC Ferries that we get so doggone ornery when the corporation is taken away from us, privatized, abused ... sunk even.

A coastal, seafaring province loves its ferries (my favourites: the brisk little Queen of Cumberland and the stately Spirits).

I still have hopes that one day, the people of British Columbia will again hold public ownership of the fleet.

The BC Ferry system, for which we pay big bucks even though our beloved government claims its independent, are crying the blues, as is the Transport minister about having to pay 17 million in import duties for their latest adventure. If the government is at arms length, why is Falcon crying foul? What sort of crying will he be doing when the made in Germany boats at highly subsidized yards show up and the tax will be around 85 millions. what great deal makers. Government don't tax governments and governments borrow money at a lower rate than companies. However Gordo knows best so we end up where we are today. WAC started the fleet to keep companies from gouging the tax payers, and now Gordo screwed things up and we again are Being gouged.

I understand that's $17 million EACH.

They claimed the Germans would charge, what was it? $3 million less than local work? They were told loudly at the time that they would have to pay these import taxes, plus they would recover around 60% of the price in taxes if they built them here, in materials taxes, income taxes and sales taxes on the money spent here by the working families and by the local small businesses they spent it at, their employees and so on and on.

As if deaf the only answer they made was to chant that they had to " get the best value for money".

God grant that someday we get to see the books. Not the ferries books. The cabinet members personal finances. Offshore bank accounts, Maui and other places, campaign 'donations'. The only answer I can think of to explain such blatantly disadvantageous dealings is some kind of threat or some kind of payoff.

Mr Bush's daughter was reported recently to have bought a compound of some thousands of acres in Paraguay. Thousands of acres in the same area where Nazis hid to avoid prosecution as war criminals.

Does anybody know how to access the real estate records of Hawaii? I would be fascinated to know who has acquired property there in the last few years, connected to these Liberals.

I always wondered how Mr Campbell for example could be in Maui when our legislature was raided for evidence of bribery and corruption, only a year after his criminal conviction there.

I always thought they wouldn't let you cross the border after a criminal conviction.