If Powell River residents are fed up with escalating ferry fares, now is the time to let voices be heard.
BC Ferry Commissioner Martin Crilly has given preliminary approval to rate increases for the next four years. Fares on minor routes, including the ones serving Powell River, would jump 8.23 per cent a year, while fares on major routes from the Lower Mainland to Vancouver Island would rise 4.15 per cent a year, starting on April 1, 2012.
The commissioner’s ruling is based on information provided by BC Ferries, including a six-year cost projection for the operations, a six-year capital plan and a traffic forecast.
The increases are less than BC Ferries asked for and the company has an opportunity to ask the commissioner to review his decision. The commissioner challenged the company to make further adjustments, by trimming marketing budgets and executive salaries. The commissioner also suggested some capital projects could be delayed and the company could improve productivity, to achieve a total $18.5 million reduction in annual operating and amortization expenditures.
While lower than anticipated, the rate increases remain too high. Ferry-dependent communities have been shouldering the impact of rising fares since the provincial government created the quasi-private BC Ferries in 2003. At the time, the government promised the new structure would bring “modest and predictable average fare increases.” That hasn’t happened.
Instead, ferry fares have risen by over 60 per cent on minor routes and 40 per cent on main routes. For small, ferry-dependent coastal communities, the escalating fares, which are significantly more than cost-of-living increases, continue to negatively impact economic development and the absolute necessity to diversify.
Blair Lekstrom, minister of transportation and infrastructure, has said that he doesn’t think people will be able to afford to travel if the rate increases continue at this pace. He acknowledged that the public is looking to government to fix the situation and he wasn’t going to sidestep that responsibility.
Which is a refreshing statement, since government, BC Ferries and the ferry commissioner have been giving the public the run-around since 2003, each saying the other is responsible.
When the government created BC Ferries, it abandoned its public-policy responsibility for a critical transportation infrastructure. The government’s goal was to avoid political interference and a repeat of the fast ferries fiasco. But in doing that, it created a structure with no accountability.
The government needs to support ferry service with appropriate subsidies, which have not increased since 2003. As a result, the company’s operating expenses covered by the subsidy have decreased to 16 per cent from 22 per cent. Rising fares have made up the difference, but the increases have reached a tipping point, where fewer people are travelling because of the expense.
The public has until June 30 to comment on the commissioner’s preliminary ruling. Powell River local governments and organizations should also take the time to prepare submissions on this critical issue. The community needs to speak up now and let all three entities know rising fares are damaging the economy, tourism is being dealt a brutal blow and residents have borne enough of what has proven to be an experiment gone wrong.
