Editor:
Congratulations BC Ferries for another weekend of atrocious service.
With sailing cutbacks, rising rates and unreliable service, BC Ferries is sucking the life blood out of all B.C. Coastal communities. This is particularly evident on long weekends, when not only regulars travel home, but tourists attempt to use this provincial marine highway to visit more of “Beautiful B.C.”
On Saturday, Aug. 2, my husband and I, along with two dogs (one a puppy), were driving back to our Sechelt home. We checked the website at noon, and the 3:45 p.m. ferry was showing only 32 per cent full. At 1 p.m., when we got to the Caulfield exit, Langdale traffic was being directed to the highway shoulder, and there we sat in the hot sun with hundreds of cars, for over an hour. There was no place to get out of the vehicle to care for the dogs, and no washrooms available. For at least 90 minutes, the ferry website did not change, despite ferry departures.
Finally the line crawled forward through the bridge construction area, and entered the ferry terminal. Both before and after the toll booth, the lots had only a few cars for Langdale sailings. At 3:22 p.m. the website was showing only 52 per cent, despite all the cars still lining the highway and the 3:45 ferry was not filled at departure. Why not?
The website showing committed deck space is only counting the cars through the toll booth. At both the Horseshoe Bay and Langdale terminals, the website cameras are in strategic locations where the casual observer does not see the multiple ferry loads of cars in long line-ups just out of camera range.
Diana Mumford, Sechelt
