Free reservations, increased government subsidies and steering away from the user pay system are among the recommendations made in BC Ferry Commissioner Gordon Macatee’s final report on the Coastal Ferry Act.
Macatee released the report on Tuesday, January 24. In total the report outlines 24 recommendations to better the ferry system, targeting areas such as general principles, affordability, financial sustainability and accountability. The report is the result of a legislative-ordered review of the Coastal Ferry Act in response to rising ferry fares
“Current ferry fares and the proposed increases have reached the tipping point of affordability,” reads the report, “and are imposing significant hardship on ferry dependent communities.”
The conclusions in the report came from public meetings with coastal communities and from studying the models of ferry services in places such as Washington in the United States, Scotland and elsewhere.
Among the main points of the report, Macatee argues that the commissioner’s commitment to “ferry users,” a term which hadn’t been defined until his report, should include “customers, their families, ferry-dependent communities and businesses which depend on ferry services to be affordable and reliable.”
Macatee also recommends that the clause in the Coastal Ferry Act forbidding cross-subsidization between ferry route groups, such as major routes and minor routes, be removed. This would result in the possibility of a single price cap being set for all routes or for route groups that the commissioner establishes.
Another main recommendation is to remove the principle of having BC Ferries rely on a user-pay system from the act. Macatee writes in the report that the corporation needs to have a better balance in funding from user pay and from taxpayers.
At a public meeting with commissioner Macatee in September many Powell River residents expressed frustration at having to pay so much for ferries when they are the community’s equivalent of a highway.
Colin Palmer, chair of the Powell River Regional District board, said that this report reflects that concern.
“Holy cow. If everybody in Powell River wanted to hear that, then he said it,” said Palmer. “The only people paying for the ferries right now, including the salaries and the bonuses and everything else, have been the people who use the ferries. Now he’s saying, take that phrase right out of the act. He’s saying everybody in this province should be paying. Boy, it doesn’t get any better then that. So that’s good for Powell River.”
In regard to affordability, the commissioner makes 11 recommendations, including developing a long-term vision of the ferry service, more input from the commissioner in capital spending, the authorization to establish “fuel deferral accounts” and an upgrading of traffic forecasting models.
Not a direct recommendation, but as a suggestion of something to look into, the commissioner suggests offering reservations made more than a day in advance free and charging those who don’t make reservations more at the point of purchase. The idea is both to make the reservation system more accessible for users by getting rid of the surcharge and to improve capacity utilization by allowing BC Ferries to have a better idea ahead of time of expected traffic. Macatee predicts the change would be revenue neutral.
“This is the model used by airlines and many other transportation providers,” writes Macatee. “It rewards people who plan ahead.”
In a conference call with reporters, Blair Lekstrom, minister of transportation and infrastructure, said the report makes it clear that although the system works relatively well, people are seeking assurance for sustainability and affordability in the long term. He couldn’t say whether or not government will adopt the report’s recommendations but he will be taking the recommendations seriously.
“We went down this path to try and find a way to continue not only to have a good ferry system, but one that’s sustainable and affordable,” said Lekstrom. “At the end of the day I’m confident that we can get there together.”
All of the local government officials who spoke to the Peak agree that Macatee listened to concerns of coastal communities and that his report reflects that. While perhaps not perfect, most described the recommendations as a big step forward in making the ferry system more sustainable and affordable for those who rely on it the most.
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons said that there are many new ideas in the report that will have to be well thought out before they are implemented, but the report is a positive step forward in general. Simons couldn’t say either way whether he believes government will increase the subsidy to the corporation, but said that he feels they could with a shift in priorities.
“There were a lot of good ideas and, really, my hope is that the minister will not wait a long time,” said Simons, “because every delay has an impact on affordability of life on the Sunshine Coast...I hope that they can make changes that are good not just for the long term but for now.”
Bill Cripps, Northern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee chair, said that the report was “extremely well done” and that Macatee’s declaration of reaching the tipping point of affordability is the key point.
“It’s really refreshing to see a report done that is that thorough,” said Cripps. “There’s a lot of stuff in there, a lot of good stuff. I don’t necessarily agree with everything he’s got in there of course.”
Many are already past the tipping point in regard to affordability, said Cripps, and he would still like to see a fare rollback or a fare freeze for the next four year performance term. Regardless, Cripps said he feels positive about the report and has had a few informal conversations with other advisory committee chairs in other communities who feel the same.
“I think it’s really good,” said Cripps. “It will be really interesting how the province reacts to it and if they accept its recommendations and go forward then it’s certainly an improvement over what we were looking at before.”
Palmer said that he will be meeting with the chairs of the other coastal regional districts and Macatee to discuss the report. From there the group will decide on its official position and then attempt to initiate a meeting with Lekstrom and Premier Christy Clark.
