Despite Transportation Minister Claire Trevena’s attempt to avoid the move, BC Ferries has announced the end of the fuel rebate.
In a release issued Tuesday, BC Ferries said the rebate would end June 27 and blamed “current world fuel market conditions.”
The rebate is 2.9 per cent for the major and minor routes, which includes Langdale-Horseshoe Bay and Earls Cove-Saltery Bay, and 1.9 per cent for the northern routes.
That works out to around $1.35 for a vehicle and 40 cents for passengers on the Langdale run.
The base fare of $45.90 for a vehicle and $13.70 for an adult passenger will not change.
The system of rebates and surcharges was put in place to try to even out the impact of volatility in fuel prices, and BC Ferries does not require approval from the Ministry or the BC Ferry Commissioner to adjust them. Ferries says it does not benefit financially from either a rebate or a surcharge.
When BC Ferries first announced last month that it was going to end the current rebate, Trevena wrote the chair of BC Ferries expressing the government’s disappointment and offering to negotiate compensation.
Ferries agreed to hold off to allow time for talks with the ministry, but is now going ahead.
“Over the past 14 years, we’ve had fuel surcharges, fuel rebates and periods with neither, depending on the market price of diesel fuel, so over the years it has basically been neutral for our customers,” said Mark Collins, BC Ferries’ president and CEO in the release.
“We know that the affordability of travel is important to our customers, and we use fuel deferral accounts and fuel hedging as tools to help reduce the impact that fluctuating fuel prices have on the cost of ferry travel.”
Finance Minister Carole James responded with a statement saying the government was disappointed that BC Ferries was making a move that increases costs for ferry travellers.
“Earlier this year we delivered on our commitment to freeze fares by providing B.C. Ferries with $59 million in new funding – the highest increase in more than a decade,” James said. “We learned B.C. Ferries was planning to remove the fuel rebate and recently entered discussions with the company with hopes of a solution. However, an agreement could not be reached.”
– With files from Victoria Times Colonist
