B.C.’s new transportation minister Claire Trevena says ferry travellers will have to wait until early next year for a fare rollback.
Trevena, the MLA for North Island, told Coast Reporter this week that the 15 per cent reduction on routes such as Langdale and Earls Cove and a freeze on the major routes to the Island will be part of the NDP’s first full budget and will be timed to take effect April 1, 2018 – when BC Ferries typically adjusts its fares.
Trevena also said reducing fares is part of a bigger picture that includes a full review of the BC Ferries operation.
“We’re working on how that is going to happen, and the timeframe. I’m hoping to see it coming through in the next few months. We’ll be working together [with BC Ferries] so we’ve got something really good to present to all ferry-dependent communities,” Trevena said. “These pieces [fare reductions] will be coming in the new year, and then we will be moving on everything else as we can.”
She said the fare adjustments, and the return of full seniors discounts, won’t require specific legislation but will need to be coordinated between the ferry company and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
Trevena is also promising to ensure that if lower fares lead to lost revenue for BC Ferries, that won’t be used to justify service cuts.
“I would stand firm against that,” she said. “BC Ferries is supposed to be a service for the people of B.C.”
Trevena said she’ll also be talking with BC Ferries and her federal counterparts about getting an equitable deal when it comes to support from Ottawa.
“Equity across the country is something I think we’re all sensitive to, so I’m going to use every lever I have to make sure that BC Ferries is working for the people and communities of B.C.,” she said.
BC Ferries is now eligible for federal infrastructure grants, and some of that money has already been announced for the Langdale terminal upgrade.
But the federal government also offers operating subsidies and the federal budget promised up to $445.3 million for Marine Atlantic over three years and $278 million over five years for other ferry services in Atlantic Canada. In its business plan for fiscal 2017, BC Ferries said it was anticipating $29.1 million in federal subsidies through an agreement between Ottawa and the province.
