While annual fare increases for BC Ferries have been set at 1.9 per cent from April 2016 through to 2020, a regional director still has concerns about the system.
Reporting on the ferries at the March 26 Powell River Regional District meeting, Colin Palmer, Electoral Area C director, said he hopes everyone does not relax because the fares are only going up 1.9 per cent.
Some might cheer at that and another price reduction initiative, but Palmer was puzzled. He said he’d heard the 3.9 per cent fuel surcharge that was scheduled to go into effect on April 1 has been reduced to 2.9 per cent.
“They’ve taken money out of the reserve into a reduction of the fares,” Palmer said. “I thought the fuel surcharge was money in, money out. The government or somebody has agreed to raid it because the oil prices have gone down. One day, the oil prices are going to go up.
“I thought that was a sacred cow so I’m rather interested in that.”
Palmer said he’d heard the minister of transportation and infrastructure, Todd Stone, on the radio telling everybody how wonderful liquefied natural gas is going to be, how the ferries have greater capacity, and other good news.
“Nobody’s telling me how many people are going to be travelling,” Palmer said. “All I’m hearing is all these initiatives.
“We are back to traffic levels of 1991. None of the initiatives are going to get more people moving on those ferries.”
Palmer said at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities annual general meeting April 10 to 12 in Courtenay, there will be a plenary session on BC Ferries and he will be one of the speakers.
“It’s going to be interesting,” he said. “One of these days it’s going to cost you $200 to go to Comox and back.”
