Editor:
I would like to thank Diana Mumford and the Ferry Advisory Committee for their time representing us to the BC Ferries Corp. This is not an easy job but an important one. The topics of concern for Coasters are many, and mutual resolution is hard to find.
One of the announcements at the Nov. 3 FAC meeting that disturbs me is that BC Ferries is planning to “turn management of the [parking] lot to a contractor.” The issue for Coasters is the shortage of parking at the terminal, and BC Ferries’ answer is to raise the parking fees and find someone else to manage the lot.
Contracting out a problem rather than finding a solution is common practice for big business nowadays. So here’s a couple of suggestions for BCF: how about using some of the terminal improvement money to build second-storey parking rather than retail shop space and raise the rates to cover the cost of a BC Ferries parking attendant? Then we would get something for our money rather than an increased expense and the same struggle to find parking. Or perhaps BCF could start a conversation with the SCRD about establishing Park and Rides with warm shelters for transit connection directly to the ferry.
Using the transit system as it is now works for some but not for many. I think our transit system is a valuable and valued service but it runs in a rural environment. Catching a bus during the day is very different from catching a bus at night. I don’t think that Mr. Collins has ever had to walk down a dark road and wait for a bus alone on a black, wet, windy highway or been dropped off on the side of the highway in those conditions either. And most people returning home from the city are doing so in the evening, and dark comes early three seasons out of four.
There has to be a better solution to our ferry parking problem.
Wanda Selzer, Gibsons
