Neil
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Post by Neil on Oct 25, 2006 13:59:13 GMT -8
This story highlights one of the most insane provisions of the Coastal Ferries Act- that the major routes should not be used to help fund the minor routes, which must stand on their own as much as possible. Users of the minor routes end up paying far more per mile or minute than on the major routes.
It's like telling transit users in Ladner or south Surrey that they have to pay twice as much per mile as along Broadway- because they have the nerve to live outside a major service area.News United message key to controlling ferry fares Gulf Islands Driftwood, Wednesday, October 25, 2006 By stacy cardigan smith Gulf Islanders who don’t want to see major ferry fare increases are being urged to contact their MLA and the B.C. Ferry Commissioner to make their concerns heard. Over the next six to nine months, the B.C. Ferry Commissioner will set price caps to determine maximum fare increases during the next “performance term,” a four-year period beginning April 1, 2008. Because B.C. Ferry Services Inc. intends to reduce subsidization of “minor routes,” including those on the Gulf Islands, proposed fare increases are expected to be substantial. Last Wednesday’s Salt Spring Island Ferry Advisory Committee (SSIFAC) meeting at the Harbour House heard that the public must step forward now to express their concerns about the planned fare increases. However, a complicated subject peppered with jargon makes it difficult to understand the issues, a task that, according to SSIFAC chair Bob Jones, is key to successful communication between the public and elected officials. “I think the main thing is that we all need to have the same message. To all have the same message, we all have to understand the issues, and I can assure you the issues are very complicated,” said Jones after last Wednesday’s SSIFAC meeting. Below is a synopsis of those issues: • Prior to implementation of the Coastal Ferry Act (CFA) in 2003, the three major routes (between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay or Duke Point, and Horseshoe-Departure Bay) were able to subsidize the other, smaller routes that did not make money. • Smaller routes are now subsidized by the government. According to a report released by the B.C. Ferry Commissioner on June 19, 2006, “the average minor route is roughly one-third user-pay.” This means the government pays, on average, 66 per cent of small-route operating costs. However, the exact amount varies from as much as 85 per cent (for the Texada Island to Powell River route) to 42 per cent (for Vesuvius Bay to Crofton). Swartz Bay to Fulford rings in at 61 per cent. • The CFA defined the maximum permitted level of a fare, or the price cap. At the time, the act allowed for the price cap to increase annually by 2.8 per cent for the major routes and 4.4 per cent for the smaller routes for the first performance term, which ends on March 31, 2008. However, under extraordinary circumstances, B.C. Ferries can apply to the Ferry Commissioner to increase the price cap. The Commissioner has approved three such extraordinary price cap increases to date due to the higher cost of fuel. The first came into effect July 25, 2005, bringing an increase of four per cent to major routes and six per cent on minor routes. The second, on February 1, saw a 1.5 per cent increase for major routes and three per cent for minor ones. The third, on June 22, saw a 3.2 per cent increase for major and 9.6 per cent increase for minor routes. • New price caps will be determined for the second performance term shortly. The cost of fuel, as well as the amortization of necessary refurbishments to the fleet and to terminals, has dramatically increased B.C. Ferries’ costs. • The government will attempt to decrease minor route funding for this second term. If this occurs, the cost of fares will greatly increase. At the October 18 SSIFAC meeting, both committee members and B.C. Ferries employees made it clear the best way for the public to be heard is to contact government officials. “Articulate your views to your MLA and the provincial government in a civil manner,” said Amar Johal, B.C. Ferries’ director of sales and community relations. For more information, log onto the B.C. Ferry Commission website at www.bcferrycommission.com or BC Ferries' website at www.bcferries.com. Saanich North and the Islands MLA Murray Coell can be reached toll free at 1-866-655-5711. E-mail the writer: stacy cardigan smith Subscribe to the Gulf Islands Driftwood
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 25, 2006 20:17:57 GMT -8
Here's an Editorial, from the same news paper as the story that Hornbyguy quoted above. www.gulfislands.net/ourviews.asp?ID=545========================================== Ferry fare fracas Gulf Islands Driftwood, Wednesday, October 25, 2006 By staff Don't say you weren't warned. An October 18 public meeting of the Salt Spring Island Ferry Advisory Committee and B.C. Ferry Services Inc. (BCFSI) may have been held with no real public notice, but it contained news that should be of concern to all present and future island residents. Driven by the BCFSI’s plan to make “unprofitable” minor ferry routes like those serving the Gulf Islands more self-sufficient, it’s seeking the ability to bump up fare-hike caps significantly in 2008 and beyond. Think of current ferry fares doubled. What BCFSI doesn't seem to recognize is that ridership will continue to decline as the prices go up, which we saw occur on the Gulf Islands this year, whether due to residents taking fewer optional trips or tourists trimming their travel expenses. Less tourists will have a clearly negative impact on the Gulf Islands economy, as will local business owners being forced to pay higher transportation costs for their goods and services. The only positive thing that might result is that island economies will strive for more self-sufficiency, or islanders may shop locally more often if ferry rates become prohibitive. But that won’t help BCFSI achieve its bottom-line objective. B.C. Ferries was certainly in need of an injection of good business sense when the Liberals took power in 2001, and some aspects of its operation have improved. But an issue like the flow of people and goods between smaller chunks of the province to the larger part cannot be treated as an isolated business problem. Public response to the recent waves of ferry rate hikes has been fatalistic, but it doesn't have to continue that way. The Coastal Ferry Act is still a creature of government, and can thus be changed. Citizens can put pressure on the government to change the act to take its sights off the minor route subsidy. The government’s argument that ferry routes and infrastructure are not part of the provincial highways system and should not be maintained with taxpayer funding has never held water, and nothing has changed to make it valid now. ===================================== .....looks like Hornbyguy & I read the same online newspapers......(Wednesday is "Driftwood day".) Kyle, what's your take on this story?
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Oct 30, 2006 19:10:01 GMT -8
The B.C. government should launch a full ferry fare review * * * The Province Published: Monday, October 30, 2006 If transit users had to pay higher fares to take a TransLink or B.C. Transit bus simply because it served a route that is less travelled, they would be up in arms. So would motorists if the B.C. government suddenly decreed that tolls would be charged on less-travelled roads.
Why, then, does Victoria allow such an unfair system to dominate B.C. Ferries operations under the three-year-old Coastal Ferry Act?
That's the key question in a report presented last week to the B.C. government by the Islands Trust Council, the regional government for the Gulf Islands.
The council has watched with growing alarm as ferry fares and surcharges on smaller routes to the islands have increased to the point where damage is being done to their economies.
Its report points to the critical change that took place in 2003 when the Coastal Ferry Act was passed as part of the B.C. Ferries restructuring that turned the Crown corporation into a private company (though wholly owned by the provincial government).
The act incorporates the principle that smaller routes, such as those serving the Gulf Islands, must move towards a greater reliance on a "user pay" system.
But it does not address the potential impacts of this on the ferry-dependent, coastal communities themselves. They rely on a healthy tourism industry as much as they do on the affordable transport of goods and services, the report says.
"If sharply rising ferry fares are allowed to choke off provincial tourism revenues and impose lasting damage on island communities, provincial losses will be far greater than any savings in (B.C. Ferries) service fees," it warns.
The report also discloses that, contrary to popular opinion, B.C. Ferries users already pay a higher percentage of their transportation system's costs from their fares (84.2 per cent) than those who use either TransLink (47.1 per cent) or B.C. Transit (37.2 per cent) -- or even, through fuel taxes and other levies, the province's highways system (70.5 per cent).
In all but the B.C. Ferries case, government funding is distributed and costs are levied over the entire system, with users paying one fare or tax.
Ferry fares must not be set without considering the economic and social impacts on the communities they serve, especially on those that are small and ferry-dependent.
But that's what B.C. Ferries seems to be doing.
Now the new ferry system has operated for three years, we would suggest that it's time for the government to launch a full fare review.
© The Vancouver Province 2006 Ads by Google
Did you catch that? Ferry users pay more of their own way than transit users or drivers. Sounds like a pretty efficient system- and one where rates are already high enough- especially on the 'minor' routes.
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Post by Barnacle on Oct 31, 2006 7:58:32 GMT -8
Wow... mad props to BC Ferries for managing to recover 84% at the farebox! WSF has been trying for years to get ours up to 80%... I don't know if we've made it yet or not. And the San Juan Islands get slapped with the nastiest fares of the bunch, as expected.
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Post by Ferryman on Nov 7, 2006 23:20:06 GMT -8
By Jean COMPTON The Chronicle Nov 07 2006
The Islands Trust has asked the Ministry of Transportation to treat their ferries as part of the highway system.
In a position paper presented last week, the Islands Trust Council asked MOT to change the Coastal Ferry Act.
“The Islands Trust Council is not asking for special treatment for our coastal communities,” said Kim Benson, the council’s chair.
“We are simply asking for the province to contribute funding to our public ferry system on a similar basis as it contributes funding to other essential public transportation networks and infrastructure in BC.”
Changes in the Coastal Ferry Act split the system into major and non-major routes, saying that non-major routes are to move towards a greater reliance on a user-pay system.
The net result has been a 23.6 per cent fare increase between June 2005 and June 2006 on non-major routes, with a 11.5 increase on major routes, said Benson.
On November 1, another 4.4 per cent increase was imposed on non-major routes.
“It’s a part of the highway system. We feel it needs to be subsidized,” said Peter Luckham, a Thetis Island trustee.
He said that arguments that people have chosen to live on an island, and as such should pay the full price of the ferry, is like saying that people living on Vancouver’s north shore should pay the cost of the bridges linking them to Vancouver.
“It really isn’t a whole lot different,” said Luckham.
When Luckham first moved to Thetis 20 years ago, ferry fares were subsidized and considered part of the highways system.
He said ferry fares are having an impact on island residents on a fixed income and those who use the ferry to commute to or from the island to work. He said that currently, the province subsidizes a portion of the service, but not the fuel surcharge and that fuel is a key component in the rising charges.
Talks with the Ministry of Transport are ongoing.
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© Copyright 2006 Ladysmith Chronicle
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Post by YZFNick on Nov 11, 2006 18:26:41 GMT -8
These constant fare increases will force middle class people off of the islands. Withing a short amount of time, the islands will be homes to millionaires only. This is outrageous and borderline criminal.
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Nov 11, 2006 19:03:35 GMT -8
Welcome to the days of a private company where all they care about is profit and don't take themselves as a marine highway.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 11, 2006 19:06:43 GMT -8
Welcome to the days of a private company where all they care about is profit and don't take themselves as a marine highway. I wouldn't say that that is "all" that they care about. Yes, it's a new focus.....mandated by the Legislation. But it's not all that they care about. (just doing some rhetoric-response here)
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Post by Low Light Mike on Mar 14, 2007 17:29:40 GMT -8
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Post by kylefossett on Mar 14, 2007 17:46:54 GMT -8
this will benefit saltspring for sure
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D'Elete BC in NJ
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Apr 2, 2007 7:43:24 GMT -8
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Apr 2, 2007 8:34:15 GMT -8
South of the 49th we face the same thing. It's as if the state has already privatized. I don't think it'd be an issue for them at this point and time. What I find rediculous is this quote
Might as well say, "we need to get shareholders what they want".
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Post by Dane on Apr 2, 2007 15:29:56 GMT -8
What shareholders?
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Post by NMcKay on Apr 2, 2007 15:41:21 GMT -8
*Shareholder (ONLY ONE)
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Post by NMcKay on Apr 2, 2007 15:42:29 GMT -8
and i guess if these ferry fares keep rising, the cost of the Island sealink wont seem that different
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Koastal Karl
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Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
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Post by Koastal Karl on Apr 2, 2007 18:04:00 GMT -8
Maybe they should raise fares only on busy sailings and have less busy sailings cheaper sort of how the airlines work. But maybe raising fares might stop all these damn sailing waits on route 1. Maybe if these busy sailings were more expensive people might try and take the cheaper less utalized sailings. Who knows.
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Apr 2, 2007 19:06:51 GMT -8
Makes sense for major routes, for minor routes, it doesn't.
Major routes are used alot but during peak periods, it is mostly people traveling to the Island for the weekend. Route 1 has been plauged with sailing waits even during mid week which is a bit surprising. The last sailings have been filled all the way. I would agree that the fares should be raised during peak periods since the industry on the major routes is more of that way unlike here where commuters believe they deserve discounts where they go to their better jobs on the other side of the water.
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Post by Mike C on Apr 2, 2007 19:10:44 GMT -8
All BC Ferries is trying to do is make a profit off the minor routes.
I think they're fools for trying to pull off such a dirty little trick. So far, they're pie-in-the-sky theory hasn't worked, so why would it work now?
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Apr 2, 2007 19:18:13 GMT -8
Why would it work? They can get away with it and no one is stepping up against them.
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Post by Hardy on Apr 2, 2007 20:14:48 GMT -8
Let's take a look at the justification for the proposed fare increase. What has gone up? The dreaded fuel costs again? I think that all fuel consumers need to stand up in general to the tyranny of the big oil companies ... I am in the transportation industry and my cost for diesel is killing my margin and my competitive advantage. I use the ferry system as part of my business and that ALSO kills my business margins. I price out my services based on estimated costs. I have to pass a certain percentage back on to my end consumers, and they feel the squeeze already too.
This whole thing is ludicrious to the n-th degree. I control all the costs in my company that I can -- wages, benefits, maintenace costs, etc. The things I can't control are the fuel (except to watch consumption) and 3rd party costs (repairs, tolls, ferry etc). And those things seem to be the things that are spiralling out of control.
Insofar as having different fares for peak and offpeak sailings, I think that outright capacity (especially on rte1) needs to be addressed at the same time. I for one, would not be willing to pay more money for the same or less service. BCFS has to throw us some kind of a bone if they want to bend us over the table.
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Apr 2, 2007 21:14:53 GMT -8
That is exactly why they offer the incentive during non peak sailings so that people will plan on traveling earlier. That is why there is the reservation system, to pay extra to get priority for the sailing you choose. If you still want buisness, you need to discount non peak hours instead of all at once. However, I do believe that if it ain't broken, don't fix it so I think the fare increase is fine however, I would like to see where the money is accounted for.
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Post by Scott on Apr 3, 2007 21:02:41 GMT -8
In the little article on B3 of the Vancouver Sun, it quotes BC Ferry Commissioner Martin Crilly as saying" We have no statutory or contractual duty to consider affordability of the fare-paying travellers, or the broad social and economic impacts on communities, when making our decisions." This, in my opinion, is what is wrong with the whole setup. I think the government has some sort of duty to keep ferry travel affordable.
As for the fare hikes, here we go again. Ferry fares never went up at all for the first 10 or 15 years BC Ferries operated... now we get them every 10 or 15 months. The only redeeming feature is the Coast Saver Sailings which provide half price trips... that is a very good incentive and I hope they keep it going.
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D'Elete BC in NJ
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Apr 4, 2007 7:30:46 GMT -8
In the little article on B3 of the Vancouver Sun, it quotes BC Ferry Commissioner Martin Crilly as saying" We have no statutory or contractual duty to consider affordability of the fare-paying travellers, or the broad social and economic impacts on communities, when making our decisions." Hmmm...I think someone missed their first class of Economics 101. If the passenger is not able to afford a ticket on the ferry, how is the company supposed to make money? It goes to show how BCFS thinks...if the money for operating costs doesn't come from the passenger, they have to have someone cough it up...namely the tax payer.
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Post by lest69 on Apr 5, 2007 10:18:19 GMT -8
" We have no statutory or contractual duty to consider affordability of the fare-paying travellers, or the broad social and economic impacts on communities, when making our decisions." This, in my opinion, is what is wrong with the whole setup. I think the government has some sort of duty to keep ferry travel affordable. I completely agree. The ferry system is essential. If BC Ferries wasn't running, it would cripple all the islands, and some of the mainland. People don't just want the service, they NEED the service. If the government doesn't regulate the fares, it can be considered that BC Ferries is consciously gouging the people of BC. They know that people will continue to use the ferries, because they have to, so why not squeeze them for every possible cent? This is also why when the strike happened a few years ago, the "essential service" levels should have been 100% (with the possible exception being something like the Mill Bay run). They are an extension of the provincial highways. I better watch it, if I give out too many 0.02s, I'm not going to be able to afford to ride the ferries!
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Apr 5, 2007 15:04:34 GMT -8
not denying that one. Is there anything in those 1k pages of the ACT saying about fare increases or are they not regulated?
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