The long-awaited and much-anticipated review of B.C. Ferries by Ferry Commissioner Gordon Macatee was released on Tuesday, and it paints a not so rosy picture for the future of the ferry corporation and for ferry dependent communities such as the Sunshine Coast.
It's not surprising that the report is pretty grim. Ridership is down, fuel costs continue to rise at an alarming rate, and travel costs are skyrocketing to try to compensate for those rising fuel costs in an effort to make the service a viable one.
The report contains 24 major recommendations for government, the corporation, ferry users and stakeholders to review - recommendations that, if not implemented in some way, will make the service better and more financially viable.
Some of the highlights include: future price cap increases held to the rate of inflation, improved capacity utilization of the fleet itself, and more say given to municipal and regional governments into ways of keeping fares affordable and increasing ridership. These are great recommendations in our eyes. Who knows their communities better than the local and regional governments?
Another recommendation we totally agree with is a higher priority on upgrading reservation and point-of-sales systems.
Many of us have long been frustrated with this reservation system. It's in need of a major overhaul and, in doing so, if the system is improved, costs should be improved too.
Macatee didn't come to these conclusions and his recommendations lightly. He conducted a comprehensive consultation process including 40 meetings in 27 communities, including Gibsons. The review involved more than 2,000 people and the public was also invited to get involved and provide comment on nine topics on the commissioner's website. Other meetings were held with First Nations, municipalities, chambers of commerce, tourism organizations and regional districts.
The review is comprehensive and complete. The recommendations laid out are fair and just. The report clearly shows that we have a system that is working, but could be working much better and far more efficiently. And it's a system that, if not improved soon, could sink pretty quickly.
So now it's time for the provincial government to act. Government asked for recommendations, so now you have them.
We ask the province to work quickly with stakeholders to be a part of the solution and fix the problems that need to be addressed.
The public has a role to play here too, and that is to be receptive to the changes that may be implemented.
