Texada Island residents are used to coping with the vagaries of ferry service. The island, home to about 750 people, is part of Powell River Regional District, but separated by Malaspina Strait. For most of the year, its service depends on the oldest vessel in BC Ferries’ fleet, the North Island Princess.
A rugged ship that has served on the Powell River-Texada Island route for over 30 years, the North Island Princess was launched in Vancouver in 1958. When high winds keep the Queen of Burnaby tied up in dock, the North Island Princess, more often than not, continues her schedule, plowing through rough seas.
The North Island Princess was away for six weeks this spring, for a retrofit. She came back into service on June 10 and soon after trouble started. There is a problem with the ship’s steering mechanism, which has caused many delayed sailings and cancellations. BC Ferries provided water taxi service last week, on June 15, but managed to get the North Island Princess up and running again the next day.
However, the problem wasn’t fixed and on Sunday, June 19, BC Ferries brought back water taxi service. It’s for passengers only and full ferry service is not expected to be restored until Thursday.
Texada Island residents have been scrambling since the problems began over a week ago. Many residents come over to Powell River, to shop, to run errands, for medical appointments, for meetings, all the usual, daily activities we take for granted. But their lives have been completely disrupted by the lack of ferry service.
The solution BC Ferries has come up with involves water taxi service for passengers only. This is like sticking a finger into a dike that is about to collapse.
BC Ferries engaged the community six years ago in planning for vessel replacements. Those plans, along with the consultation report, have disappeared in the provincial government maze in Victoria as the fleet continues to age.
It’s not surprising that aging vessels will break down from time to time. What is surprising is the lack of planning in place to deal with breakdowns. It’s not too much to expect that a vessel would be available to deal with emergency situations like what is happening on Texada. BC Ferries can, and should, be doing a better job serving communities that rely on its service.
Aging vessels, deteriorating service and increasing ferry fares combined point to many of the problems facing residents of ferry-dependent communities. These problems have been escalating since the provincial government brought in the Coastal Ferry Act and changed the structure of the Crown corporation, making it a quasi-private company. Clearly, the experiment, for that’s what it has been, has not worked. The government more or less admitted that with the announcement that it would support the BC Ferry Commissioner’s review of the legislation, an investigation that is expected to take six months.
For many coastal community residents, half a year may be too long to wait for the government to come up with solutions to a situation that worsens daily.
