Asked by The Tyee about recommendations that would give his office more power, Macatee said, "In truth we're not asking for a lot of additional authority."

The main one is the capital plan, which cost $1.9 billion since 2003 and will cost another $2.5 billion in the near future, he said. It makes sense for the regulator to have input on something that is such a large part of the operation, he said.

Decisions to come: minister

During a scrum in his office, Lekstrom praised the public consultation that went into the report, but declined to say what the government would do.

Last year the province set a price cap of 4.15 per cent increase on all routes for the first year of performance term three, taking the decision out of the commissioner's hands. A decision is needed for the following three years by Sept. 30, 2012.

"Having just received the report here about an hour ago, I'm not going to go into detail on any of the recommendations until I've had a full chance to go through the full document, discuss this with my cabinet and caucus colleagues, but we will be looking at those and making decisions in the future," he said.

He declined The Tyee's offer for a chance to talk about the report later in the day, saying his schedule was already packed with meetings.

"On the surface I'm pleased the commissioner has confirmed BC Ferries is an efficient and well-run organization," said BC Ferries president and CEO Mike Corrigan.

"I don't think anyone's arguing that fare affordability isn't the number one issue," he said. However, as the report notes, many of the things that drive up the costs of the ferry system are outside the company's control, he said, listing fuel prices, regulatory challenges such as required crewing levels and environmental guidelines.

The user pay model and the move away from cross-subsidization have meant most of those costs have been passed on to users, he said.

Asked about the commissioner's proposal for changes to the reservation system, Corrigan said, "As a company we'd be willing to look at anything if it made sense and the general customer base was willing to accept it."

He cautioned that the $15 million reservations now bring in would have to be made up elsewhere and that there would be costs for the company, such as adding staff and infrastructure to many of the smaller terminals where there wouldn't be anyone now to sort out who did and did not have a reservation.

Also, he said, some people like the reservation system the way it is now and the company wouldn't change it without a great deal of consideration.

Corrigan said it is good the commissioner recognizes the company will need "help from others" if it's going to reduce fare increases. "We're having good dialogue with the government," he said.

BCF off course, says Coons

The report confirms that the government has been on the wrong course with how it has governed the ferry system since 2003, said New Democratic Party ferries critic Gary Coons.

"It's a fulsome review," he said. "The key is affordability and sustainability of coastal and island communities."

Coons said several of the recommendations in the report are similar to ones he's been suggesting for years, as has the group Save Our Ferries. Keeping fares to the rate of inflation, eliminating user pay from the legislation and allowing the routes to cross-subsidize are all things he's promoted, he said.

"There's no long-term vision for our ferry services," he said. The government should act on the commissioner's recommendations and make the changes he suggests as soon as possible, he said. "I'm looking forward to the third legislation coming out with BC Ferries. Maybe we'll get it right this time."

It's time to rethink the model for delivering ferry services, he said. "This one hasn't worked for the last eight or nine years."

Coons noted the subsidy from the government has been stagnant, but said there may be efficiencies to be found before more money should be put into the system. He did suggest making ferries part of the highways, which would include making the subsidy high enough to pay for the vessels and terminals.

The commissioner's reservation system suggestion is intriguing and should be tested in a pilot project somewhere before being widely implemented, he said.

"It exceeded our expectations, considering the limited guidelines the commissioner was operating under," said Save Our Ferries co-ordinator Gregg Dow. "It's clearly taking into account the public good."

The report expresses well what people in coastal communities want from the ferry system, he said. "My hope is the government will enact all the recommendations in the report. They make sense."

As the MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, Nicholas Simons said he represents the only constituency that's completely ferry dependent. He said he liked the commissioner's recommendations, but government mismanagement got us to where we are today with concerns about unaffordable fares.

It will be up to the government to make changes but, Simons said, "Government does tend to wait until the patient in the waiting room is critically ill before taking action."

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