Youth Fare Accounting
It’s unlikely the Southern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC) will be able to get a detailed accounting of the money collected through a one-half per cent increase in fares used to fund travel for schools, youth groups and children’s sports teams.
The FAC wanted specifics on how much of the money was being used to top up the youth subsidies (50 per cent is covered by the province) and how much was going to cover costs associated with adding a Sunday sailing to replace one that had been cut in an earlier cost-saving move.
“The FAC was part of that deal, and I feel we have a right to know how much is being used for these reinstated sailings because it’s a bit of a precedent,” said Gibsons council FAC representative Jeremy Valeriote. “We should know, because we’ve asked our community to contribute, how much of that is going not to free youth travel but more sailings.”
BC Ferries vice president of strategic planning Mark Collins responded: “Anything that was added to this program and paid for by the half a per cent was purely at the request of the ferry advisory committee, and therefore supported by the community. We just made it possible,” said Collins, who added that the Sunday sailing is now a permanent fixture, as is the fare increase.
Collins also said Ferries can confirm “there is no excess of collection over cost.”
BC Ferries director of strategic planning David Hendry was able to shed some light on the numbers. He said the original savings from cutting a Sunday sailing were estimated at $100,000 over the 44 round trips every year, and about $50,000 from the fare increase has gone to the reinstated sailings.
Automobile Equivalent
BC Ferries is standardizing how it measures the space needed for a vehicle – which means, on paper at least, the two main ferries serving Langdale are now smaller.
BC Ferries measures the vehicle deck space in AEQ (automobile equivalents), but the company’s been using a different measurement for terminal parking lots and the ferries themselves. Now it’s planning to use 6.1 metres by 2.6 metres (roughly the same dimensions as a full-sized pick-up truck).
So, the Queen of Surrey, which is officially listed as having a 360-vehicle capacity, will be rated at 311 under the new calculation. In practical terms, it won’t make any difference to how many vehicles can actually be loaded for any trip, but it will change BC Ferries data for its reports to the ferry commissioner.
