Malaspina Coach Lines owner Ali Ismail blames BC Ferries for the ultimate closure of his transportation business that shuttled customers between Pender Harbour and Vancouver for 20 years.
He said the issue that caused him to close in September wasn’t a lack of money but rather a lack of respect from BC Ferries.
Ismail claims BC Ferries told its passengers that the bus service “went bankrupt” over the ferry intercom system and that BC Ferries personnel said slanderous things about Malaspina Coach Lines to its customers.
He also said the ferry corporation took away his company’s preferred boarding status, leaving his bus at the terminal with customers on it multiple times. Ismail said an incident in September where his bus was left at the terminal in Earls Cove was the last straw.
“So the passenger got up from the bus – this is what really hurt me and made me make the decision that it’s time for me to stop,” Ismail said. “The passenger got up and said to James, the driver, ‘James, we don’t know what’s going on here but we have to make it to Powell River so we’re going to walk off the bus and walk on the ferry. If you make it we’ll rejoin you, if you don’t at least we got to the other side.’ So you have to think at this particular point what we do has lost its value because we no longer can provide the security for our passengers that we’re going to get them to their final destination that they paid for.”
Ismail claims BC Ferries made a “company policy” not to give preferred boarding to Malaspina Coach Lines, after two decades of being given preferred boarding privileges.
However, BC Ferries said no such policy was ever made and that the ferry corporation only left Malaspina Coach Lines customers at the terminal twice on the Sunshine Coast.
“On a day in January 2015 when we had the North Island Princess relieving for the Island Sky on the Earls Cove – Saltery Bay [route], we weren’t able to offer preferred boarding. The North Island Princess is much smaller than the Island Sky and there was already an overload by the time the bus arrived,” said Deborah Marshall, executive director of public affairs with BC Ferries.
“There was another occasion on July 5, 2015 where we didn’t allow preferred boarding. Traffic was very heavy departing Langdale. The traffic was past the top of the bypass. The bus was a rental, not the usual Malaspina Coach Lines that traffic controllers and staff are used to seeing. The ship was full by the time the bus got near the ramp so it missed the sailing.”
Marshall denies the company ever announced Malaspina Coach Lines went bankrupt on board any of its vessels but said announcements were made at times when Malaspina Coach Lines “cancelled their trips stating that they didn’t have enough passengers.”
“There were occasions where the staff announced that Malaspina Coach Lines was not available on this sailing,” Marshall said.
As for BC Ferries staff saying slanderous things about Malaspina Coach Lines, Marshall said there was only one complaint lodged by Malaspina – in relation to priority boarding – which BC Ferries looked into.
She said the ferry corporation did what it could to keep a good working relationship with Malaspina Coach Lines and noted the bus company was about $20,000 in arrears to BC Ferries when it closed its doors.
“BC Ferries offers commercial customers the option of using a BC Ferries Commercial Travel Card (CTC) with us, which is similar to a credit card. When customers are in arrears, BC Ferries no longer allows them to use a CTC card and they must pay cash instead. While BC Ferries is very supportive of businesses on the Sunshine Coast, Malaspina owes BC Ferries approximately $20,000,” she said.
Ismail maintains there was “a barrage of disrespect to the operation from BC Ferries,” and said BC Ferries took part in a “campaign of slandering, no different than Mercedes-Benz.”
Ismail launched a lawsuit in October 2015 against Mercedes-Benz Canada, Inc. and Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Canada Corporation for allegedly selling his company defective vehicles, which he said negatively impacted his service. Mercedes-Benz also publicly repossessed one of Ismail’s buses while there were passengers on it.
Ismail alluded to another lawsuit on the horizon involving BC Ferries.
“I cannot take the whole 20 years and getting out of this business with all these things that we have discussed and I have mentioned to you and then letting [BC Ferries] get away with it. There’s no way. It’s just not going to happen. They are going to be held accountable just like Mercedes-Benz,” Ismail said.
