Editor:
Strange there was not one comment or feedback on the recent announcement by B.C. Ferries to possibly reduce the discount rate on our Experience Card plan. Are we being too apathetic?
I can recall sometime in the past when the regular commuters picketed B.C. Ferries' Horseshoe Bay terminal to shut down the Langdale ferry run for the better part of the day, which, led by then area MLA Gordon Wilson, was successful in putting a stop to that ferry increase. We were all very proud of that accomplishment, yet now we seem to take these ridiculous ferry rates with our morning coffee and possibly a slight yawn.
B.C. Ferries needs to look at how the old discount coupons worked to ensure the Experience Card is mainly used by residences for the Sunshine Coast and not by visitors. Before the card, when a book of 10 car and driver prepaid tickets set you back $250 or so, not many travellers other than frequent commuters or residents of the Coast purchased those tickets. Today, anyone who visits can acquire an Experience Card, load it for a minimum $85 - and presto, they get the discount.
So if B.C. Ferries is wondering why the card is so popular, I really believe it is not just the frequent travellers and those who reside on the Coast who have to bear the burden of another increase, but share the costs with not only other travellers who use the system, but get back some of that lost provincial subsidy.
Between B.C. Ferries and the current Liberal Party, they have to work a little harder in putting a cap on these snowballing ferry rates.
Bert Hogendoorn
Gibsons
