Editor:
Last Friday we made a trip to Vancouver planning to return on the 7:20 p.m. ferry and with that in mind, we came through West Vancouver at 6:20. However, we were stopped at Nelson Creek and informed that there had been a breakdown and the ferry service was running late. The next ferry would be at 8:30 p.m.
We eventually were allowed through the toll booth, paid our $56 and were again informed that we would be on a ferry at 8:30.
At 8:20, a ferry pulled into the dock and unloaded. The ramp was then raised and we continued to sit for another 40 minutes. No announcement of explanation was made and there were no ferry personnel in sight to answer questions.
At 9:05, ferry personnel appeared, and again, no announcements were made, but at 9:10 ferry personnel proceeded to direct the assembled traffic for the upper deck onto the lower deck.
Eventually the ferry left at 9:30.
This whole experience smacked of a high handed, customer-be-damned attitude. The many breakdowns that plague our Sunshine Coast ferries are bad enough, but I believe in this instance, a decision was made not to run the ferry at 8:30, but to hold off until 9:15, which was the last scheduled sailing for the day and therefore would save the ferry corporation money. This decision totally disregarded the fact that many people had been waiting for two hours and would be forced to wait another hour. Even then they could not get it right and the ferry left 15 minutes late.
This shoddy service, if you can call it that, would not be tolerated if there was an alternative. Communities linked by roads do not put up with this attitude, so why do we?
Robert Gibson
Sechelt
