The following letter was sent to BC Ferries president Mike Corrigan and copied to Coast Reporter.
Dear sir:
On Aug. 26 the Queen of Surrey was removed from service for mechanical reasons. The schedule for sailings to Langdale and Horseshoe Bay were revised. The travelling public was expected to make whatever adjustments they had to, in order to accommodate the revised schedule.
However, BC Ferries did nothing to help their customers who were inconvenienced by the schedule change. I was one of a couple of dozen foot passengers who were told ticket sales were closed for the 3:45/4:30 p.m. ferry to Langdale. It was about 5 p.m. and the 4:30 ferry was at the dock and loading had not started.
Several of us demanded to see the manager and by the time he arrived cars were being loaded. He explained that once one car had been loaded passenger sales were stopped. This inflexible, idiotic rule could not be relaxed to accommodate people who were already being inconvenienced?
I took the opportunity to ask the manager why the 10-minute sales cut off. Here are his answers and my comments.
• We need to close sales to get an accurate passenger count. My ticket has a date and time stamp. There is point of sale capability and a real time passenger count.
• It is for the safety of B.C Ferry employees. There are no ferry employees between the sales booths and the waiting rooms.
• For passengers personal safety. We are talking about a covered walkway that is in use during all operating times except for the blackout periods imposed by BC Ferries.
I have travelled on the ferry system since it was the Blackball line, a privately owned and operated company where service was of importance. It is clear that this bloated monopoly has no concept of customer service.
Bruce A. Smith, Halfmoon Bay
