There wasn't much by way of good news coming from B.C. Ferries after the most recent ferry advisory committee (FAC) meeting, said southern Sunshine Coast FAC rep Jakob Knaus.
The FAC met with B.C. Ferries' chief financial officer Rob Clarke last Wednesday (Oct. 27), but two of the longest standing grievances the FAC has been working on, a daily 5:30 p.m. commuter sailing and rising fares, don't show any promise of being resolved anytime soon.
"The most important thing is the 5:30 p.m. ferry in Horseshoe Bay. We spent about two hours discussing that, and emotions ran rather high, arguments backwards and forwards, but for the time being, we don't really see a solution." Knaus said.
B.C. Ferries says with all the new security and regulations at Horseshoe Bay, the turnaround for ships is longer than it used to be, making it difficult to have a daily 5:30 p.m. sailing run on time.
Knaus said the only solution he can think of for that would be to have an overhead walkway in Langdale, similar to Horseshoe Bay.
"It would cut [turnaround time] by seven to 10 minutes and if you save seven minutes on eight sailings, that makes almost an hour," he said.
According to Knaus, B.C. Ferries' final offer to maintain a 5:30 p.m. sailing would have to involve moving the first sailing from Langdale to 6 a.m.
"It is not really a solution," Knaus said.
On time performance for Route 3 during the last year has been about 70 per cent, Knaus said. Gibsons coun. LeeAnn Johnson, who represents the Town on the FAC, called that "abysmal."
Also on the bad news front is an indication of future ferry fare increases. B.C. Ferries is currently going through its contract with the ferry commissioner, which includes the company putting forward its expectations for operating and capital costs over the next several years.
"B.C. Ferries re-calculated what per cent they need to meet the expenses and a roughly 13 per cent return on equity. We have calculated it out for our route, and it would make a 15 per cent fare increase from 2010/11 to 2013," Knaus said.
The one piece of good news coming from the meeting, Knaus said, is the high likelihood that junior sports teams riding the ferry will soon be able to have a 50 per cent discount on fares.
"I'm clarifying now what hoops these junior sports teams have to jump in order to qualify for these 50 per cent discount. I think that's very important for our community and worth knowing that they are doing something about it," he said.
Johnson, who has sat on the FAC since its inception, said the FAC has been working on the same issues for years, with little progress from B.C. Ferries.
"Part of the difficulty is getting B.C. Ferries to acknowledge the message that we're trying to give to them, and they just keep finding more excuses as to why they can't do what we want them to do," she said. "We want a reliable ferry service that's on time, most of the year.
"In terms of the economic well-being of the community and the needs of the community, that's probably more important than anything else."
She said she'd like to see more innovation from B.C. Ferries to tackle the issues of turnaround times and on-time performance.
