Students from the Upper Sunshine Coast are now receiving the same 100 per cent student fare discount as their Lower Coast counterparts when they travel for school-related activities on the Route 3 ferry between Langdale and Horseshoe Bay.
“As of yesterday afternoon, anyone from Powell River on a school event is eligible and we are able to process the same discount that the Southern Sunshine Coast is getting,” BC Ferries public affairs manager Darin Guenette said Nov. 27. “So essentially the whole Sunshine Coast has the same school discount, as of yesterday.”
Free passage on Route 3 for youth sports teams, announced for the Lower Coast in October, will go into effect “as soon as reasonable,” Guenette said, adding he was hoping to have the Upper Coast included in the new program at the same time.
“The youth sports discount still requires some coordination details to be worked out,” he said, “and BC Ferries is continuing to work with the local school district to finalize these details prior to implementation of the discount for the Langdale-Horseshoe Bay route.”
Guenette said BC Ferries agreed to include the Upper Coast in the discount program for Route 3 because both communities are paying the half per cent extra that was added to Route 3 fares in 2010.
“It’s all coming out of the half per cent discount that’s already in place,” he said. “They pay on Route 3 the same as you guys do, so they should get the discount.”
The inequity came to light after the October announcement that BC Ferries was extending the youth discount for the Lower Coast to also include sports teams.
Powell River is also interested in having the youth discounts applied to Route 17 between Comox and Powell River, and Guenette said the community has been asked to provide numbers so BC Ferries can estimate how much of a fare increase would be required to cover the loss in fare revenue.
“This is a whole new process,” he said. “We need to get an idea from them of how much uptake there would be.”
While most minor routes are eligible for 100 per cent youth discounts for both school activities and sporting events, major routes, most northern routes and a small number of minor routes are eligible only for a 50 per cent discount, and for school activities only.
“For some reason the Sunshine Coast routes were included with the 50 per cent discount routes,” Guenette said.
Route 3’s discount for school outings was increased to 100 per cent after the Lower Coast agreed to pay the extra half per cent on fares, but the 50 per cent discount eligibility applies still to Route 17 and 7 (Earls Cove to Saltery Bay).
However, on Route 18 (Powell River to Texada Island), youths are eligible for the 100 per cent discount for both school and sporting events. The full discount also applies to Route 13 between Langdale and Keats and Gambier islands.
Guenette said the policies were set by the province and “have been in place for a long, long time.”
