Projected ferry fare increases have members of the Northern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee (NSCFAC) and Powell River Regional District concerned over out-of-control future fares.
Colin Palmer, Area C director and board chair, brought up the issue at a recent board meeting in an attempt to come up with some suggestions for ways to deal with the situation. One suggestion Palmer heard was that representatives go down to Victoria to meet with the minister of transportation and infrastructure to express their concern. Palmer has also been in contact with the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities whose executives have been discussing the issue. Joining their efforts is a potential plan of action according to Palmer.
The call for action has come due to the announcement of an 8.23 per cent increase per year on minor route fares for performance term three, starting in 2012. Through numbers prepared by Area A director Patrick Brabazon, Palmer explained that the increase will be drastic for routes serving Powell River. For a vehicle with driver and passenger, for instance, the price to travel to and from Vancouver by way of the ferries will rise from the $141 it is in 2011 to $209 by 2016. The trip cost $91 in 2003.
Once again ridership is down on all three routes serving Powell River for the months of January and February 2011, and by 10 per cent for both vehicles and passengers for route 17, Powell River to Comox. Overall, vehicles were down five per cent and passengers seven per cent for the three routes. NSCFAC chair Bill Cripps foresees lower ridership driving up fares and vice versa until the ferries simply become so expensive that no one will take them anymore unless absolutely necessary, which will in turn negatively affect the local economy, tourism, youth sports and activities.
Cripps is worried that the low ridership numbers this year will mean that the rise in fares will have to be even higher than the 8.23 per cent recommended by BC Ferries Commission in April. Unless the government increases its subsidies to the corporation, Cripps predicts that the final decision on price cap, due from the commission on September 30, could well be in the double digits.
“It’s a disaster, a crisis, you can use all those words and people are,” said Cripps. “It’s a really interesting situation but for people living in ferry-dependent communities it’s virtually a crisis and it’s particularly hard on families.”
Cripps maintains that the drop in ridership is directly linked to a rise in costs for the ferries. BC Ferries denies the correlation, with chief financial officer Robert Clarke stating, at the last meeting with the committee, that that isn’t the case.
Proposed Ferry Fare Increases 2012-2016
2003 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Route 3/7* $91 $141 $152 $165 $179 $193 $209
Route 17* $83 $135 $146 $158 $171 $185 $200
Route 18* $25 $42 $46 $49 $53 $58 $62
*Roundtrip, driver, passenger and vehicle
