Editor:
I am a frequent traveller on BC Ferries and I greatly appreciate the critical service it provides. However, in recent weeks, whenever I’ve arrived at Langdale in mid-to-late morning, the parking lot is always full or nearly full. For a walk-on passenger who must catch the ferry, a full parking lot is a serious problem, because it leaves the person with no options. (Parking on the road is not permitted, and deciding at the last minute to join the ferry’s vehicle line-up is also not possible since, at that hour, it too is usually in an overload situation.) This also affects people travelling to Gambier or Keats islands. If you’re catching the water taxi, you have to board right away. You can’t wait around to see whether someone getting off the ferry might vacate a parking spot.
My question is this: What is BC Ferries planning to do to accommodate the growing overflow of passengers who wish to park their cars and walk onto the ferry or water taxi? It needs to do something, because already desperate drivers have begun leaving cars in undesignated places within the parking lot and elsewhere. And with the busiest season fast approaching, the problem is certain to get worse.
One temporary solution that comes to mind would be to make available the empty parking lot that is beside the main road. However, whatever BC Ferries decides to do about this, I suggest it be implemented as soon as possible.
Robert O’Neill, Roberts Creek
