It now costs a commuter $25.30 every day to drive a car onto the ferry. In most people’s books, that’s a lot of money. Ferry fares affect everything from house values to who can afford to live on Bowen. Before looking at the fallout from this fare hike, let’s look at how we got here and where fares are heading.
BC Ferries is a for-profit private corporation. The only difference between them and other corporations is that they have a monopoly, provide an essential service and have only one shareholder, the government of B.C. They unveiled their first business plan and service contract in 2003. Two essential assumptions in their business plan were that ridership would increase by 25% over 15 years and fuel costs would increase by no more than 20%. One of the terms of their contract was that they would build a new passenger terminal on Bowen during their first four years of operation. Their business plan is in tatters and they have simply ignored those portions of their contract that didn’t suit them. So this government, like so many before them, has an out of control monster on their hands and all they can do is keep raising fares and blaming their customers for having the temerity to actually live on islands.
The latest rewrite of their business plan appears to be an attempt to simply maximize the amount of fares collected. The northern routes have been tapped out. The last time they raised the fares the ridership dropped enough to let them know that they had gone too far. So now the provincial government will have to pick-up any increases in fuel costs. But they haven’t yet reached that point with us. They have more than doubled our fares in five years and will continue to increase them until we vote with our feet and simply cut back on the amount we use the ferry.
With inflation increasing and house prices flattening out it’s time for our community to get proactive on this one. The first and most obvious need is for a passenger terminal. People would find walking onto the ferry a much more acceptable alternative if they didn’t have to stand in the dark, in the wind and rain, at 7:30 on November mornings. Forget about BC Ferries paying for it, the municipality will have to do it. But a large shed on the south dock similar to a covered bridge with windows could be built for under $20,000. At the same time we should forget about getting a larger ferry or double lane loading. Fares will increase until the size of our existing ferry is more than enough.
It isn’t that the higher fares might have a negative impact on our standard of living. The fact is that the ferry fares will continue to rise until they do wreak havoc on our island. Every community served by the ferries will have their fares systematically increased until the net revenue to the ferry corporation drops. And the net revenue won’t drop until the residents feel the pinch. And “the pinch” will mean people forced to move closer to work and dropping house prices.
I’m sorry to sound so negative but just stop and think about it for a minute. BC Ferries now has a long-term debt of over a billion dollars. They have invested in enormous new ferries and terminals at a time when their fuel costs are going through the roof and gas prices are reducing tourist traffic. They’ve made money on the major routes because they were using smaller, older, more cost effective equipment. When those runs start losing money you can expect another total reorganization of the entire system but by then the damage will have been done to all of the smaller communities sacrificed to enhance BC Ferries bottom line.
Ideas for saving on ferry fares
The next step is for individual commuters to get creative about ways to reduce their costs. One interesting idea is to join the Co-operative Auto Network that has been sending out mailers. They have cars parked in Horseshoe Bay next to the ferry terminal. You join for a one time fee of $500, call ahead to book your car, and pay approximately $2.00 per hour and $.25 per kilometre for the car for as long as you need it. If you used it to take three kids to their baseball practice you would not only save money, you would be sure that you weren’t going to get overloaded. In some families it may mean that you only need one car instead of two.
Another idea would be to share a Horseshoe Bay parking spot with somebody who commutes to Bowen every morning to work.
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