A request for information sheds new light on the ferry-pass program for thousands of B.C. Ferries employees and retirees — just weeks after the corporation announced it is replacing seniors’ free weekday fares with half-price fares.
But the documents raise more questions than they answer, said Jordan Bateman, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Association.
“I asked for their policy because I thought it would be helpful to have it out there while people are going to [public consultation] meetings,” Bateman said Wednesday.
The association made a request for information on the program in the wake of news that B.C. Ferries was replacing seniors’ free weekday fares with half-price fares, effective in April.
About 7,500 passes have been issued — 4,200 for employees and 3,200 for retirees. Under the program, pass-holders (and their vehicles) are eligible to have unlimited personal ferry travel within the ferry system.
Ferry passes are available to an employee’s immediate family members but are limited to 24 one-way trips a year.
Retired employees and immediate family are required to provide photo identification upon request when using a pass. If a current or former employee dies, their spouse may continue to be eligible for a ferry pass.
Eligible retirees are limited to 24 one-way trips each year.
The ferry pass is a taxable benefit and is calculated on the number of trips.
MLAs lost their free ferry passes in 1997. There are others who retain passes under a grandfather clause.
In 2010, B.C. Ferries said the total cost of all free trips to that point was over $5.2 million. Newer numbers are not available.
But Bateman said the documents leave out the details.
“Without a price tag attached [to the free sailings], it’s really difficult to quantify,” he said.
B.C. Ferries CEO Mike Corrigan said in a letter to the Times Colonist last month that the employee pass program isn’t free but a taxable benefit.
“This program costs the company virtually nothing since there is plenty of capacity on our system as our average utilization is just under 50 per cent,” Corrigan said.
Bateman said that logic is “ridiculous. If people are taking a trip across, there are costs associated with that. They get caught in their own circular logic — why not keep free sailings for seniors for any sailing that’s under 50 per cent full?
“They fall into their own trap there.”
Bateman said he wants to know how many free trips employees are taking each year by route.
“Tell us precisely how many trips are being taken. Is the average employee and family taking most of their 24 trips or are they not?”
B.C. Ferries says the program builds greater pride in its workforce.
