A powerfully argued new report claims that B.C. Ferries is causing economic turmoil up and down the coast. The critique, produced by the company’s 13 local advisory committees, exceeds in clarity and insight anything written (or admitted to) by government.
The key to the matter lies in the destructive effect of fare increases.
Since 2007, the rate for a car and driver has risen by nearly 50 per cent on the major ferry routes, and more than 60 per cent on minor Gulf Island trips.
On all routes, the dollar impact is hefty. On longer, northern routes, it is dramatic. A one-way ferry ride between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert now costs $640 for car and driver.
Those fare hikes were meant to strengthen the company’s financial position. And, to an extent, they did.
But what also happened is that large numbers of people stopped using the ferry. While ridership on other forms of public transportation grew, ferry usage fell. Today, 650,000 fewer vehicles and drivers ride the ferry each year than in 2007.
Some of the lost customers are tourists; that hurts the hospitality industry. One of the few eateries on Saturna Island is now closed all winter.
Some are business owners facing hefty cost increases to transport their product to market. Walcan Seafood, the biggest employer on Quadra Island, has seen its annual trucking bill rise more than $150,000.
Some are residents cut off from vital services. The population of Gambier Island has fallen 30 per cent, as people can no longer afford the trip to mainland medical and dental facilities.
And beyond these surface-level impacts, there is evidence of much deeper harm to coastal communities.
House prices in Victoria, Nanaimo and some of the Gulf Islands have stagnated since ferry rates were hiked, even as real estate markets in the Lower Mainland surged ahead. Population growth in the capital region has fallen well below the national average, and far below the B.C. average. More remote coastal communities, such as Prince Rupert and Kitimat, have seen their populations actually decline.
It’s difficult to put precise dollar figures on these impacts. And no doubt, in some communities, other factors are involved.
But for illustration, if house prices in the Capital Regional District drop one per cent, homeowners take a $350-million collective hit.
And that’s just the local housing market. Scale this up for the rest of Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and northern coastal communities, and the potential impact is immense. Add in business losses and a rather bleak picture emerges. B.C. Ferries traded a limited improvement in revenues for social and economic dislocation far exceeding any benefit to the company’s bottom line.
Transportation policy is usually designed with a view to enhancing community development. In this case, it is being carried forward in a manner that is little short of punitive.
The provincial government might argue that ferry routes are already subsidized, and additional help cannot be afforded. But the authors of the report have an answer to that: Let’s try an experiment. Instead of raising fares and driving customers away, cut fares dramatically on one or two routes, and see what happens.
Perhaps the increase in ridership will offset the lower prices. When the $10 toll fee on the Coquihalla Highway was removed, traffic increased 44 per cent.
Traditionally, debates about ferry pricing have focused on questions of fairness: Why are mainland transit systems subsidized far more heavily than coastal ferry services?
This report brings a new critique to bear: Why keep upping rates when the economic damage visibly outweighs the revenues brought in?
Premier Christy Clark prides herself in running a businesslike administration. There is nothing vaguely businesslike about her government’s ferry policy.
