The chairs of the coast's 12 Ferry Advisory Committees (FAC) are asking Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon to meet with them to work on a strategy for the long-term sustainability of ferry service to their communities as substantial fuel surcharges hit many south coast routes recently.
Fares on B.C. Ferries' smaller routes rose by up to 21 per cent when fuel surcharges went into effect Aug. 1. Many of these fares have increased by more than 100 per cent in the last five years, while inflation in B.C. has been only two per cent per year according to a joint press release from the FACs.
Last week the B.C. Ferry Commission approved fuel surcharges that must average 17.6 per cent on B.C. Ferries' 18 minor routes, 10.3 per cent on the major routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland and 9.2 per cent on the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale route.
The FAC chairs feel a meeting with Falcon is urgently needed, as they doubt that any significant savings can be achieved by reductions in service in the near future.
"Substantive changes can only come about through careful long-term planning," said the FAC release. "However, planning must begin right away and must be supported by immediate measures to address the heavy burden of fares that could cripple small communities and seriously affect the viability of some ferry routes."
Falcon has indicated already that the province will pay the added fuel cost for the northern routes between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert and between Prince Rupert and the Queen Charlotte Islands.
The province will also cover the higher fuel bills for the free inland ferries. The FAC is calling for the ferry routes serving south coast communities to receive equal treatment.
Southern Sunshine Coast FAC spokesperson Jakob Knaus said he supports the call for a meeting with Falcon.
"I do support the idea of a meeting because I feel we cannot lose anything by meeting with the minister," Knaus said. "Our group has met the minister once before at the parliament in Victoria. He knows who we are. However, I am under no illusion that he will personally negotiate with us - this will be done by his underlings."
Knaus said the fuel surcharge was worked out on the basis of a formula established by the commissioner for performance term two (PT2). "I was glad to see that our route was treated as a separate entity and got the lowest fuel surcharge [except the northern routes, which got none]. In the past, we were thrown together with the minor routes," he said. "The commissioner has set the base price for PT2 first year at $.78 per litre. Today's price for B.C. Ferries is $1.32 per litre. The fact that B.C. Ferries proposal to the commissioner and my estimate are so close is proof that the formula works and can be understood by ordinary persons, not only the experts."
Knaus said the formula sees the first $.05 of an increase in the cost shared equally by B.C. Ferries and the travellers.
"There have been minor changes in the formula, such as the liquidation period of the negative balances in the accrual, which is now until the end of PT2, whereas the original formula was within 12 months," he said. "All we can hope for is that world oil prices will come down further, so that the surcharge can be reduced. This might not occur earlier than quarterly."
