Island residents and businesses should be fighting to make soaring B.C. Ferries fares an election issue. Fares have increased more than five times faster than the inflation rate since 2003, according to the Southern Gulf Islands Ferry Advisory Committee.
In the past 13 years, fares have risen more than 100 per cent on the routes serving the southern islands, the committee outlined in a recent fact sheet. Increases have been greater on other routes — 160 per cent on the Quadra Island-Campbell River run. Inflation has been 18 per cent in the same period.
The results are unsurprising. Ferry usage rates on the southern Gulf Island routes — from Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay — are lower than they were a decade ago. It is a basic law of economics that as prices rise, use will decline.
Islanders are obviously affected, as medical appointments, visits to family and general travel all become more and more expensive.
But there is a much broader economic impact, as businesses suffer from the cost burden, especially tourism businesses.
“Jobs have been lost, as many businesses have closed and others have reduced their hours,” the committee reports.
The extraordinary fare increases are the result of the government’s ferry policy. The process for setting ferry fares is simple. The ferry corporation estimates its operating costs and revenue from food services and gift shops. The government sets out its contribution.
And fares are set to recover the rest of the costs, with the entire process reviewed by the B.C. Ferry Commission.
Ultimately, the government sets ferry fares when it decides on its contribution. And over 16 years, the B.C. Liberal government has chosen to drive fares higher and higher.
That could be a principled stance if Premier Christy Clark and the cabinet believed users should pay for basic transportation services.
But while B.C. Ferries travellers covered all operating costs in 2016, the government has decided people using TransLink in the Lower Mainland only need to cover 41 per cent of operating costs through fares, the ferry advisory committee notes. B.C. Transit passengers in the rest of the province cover just 31 per cent of operating costs. In Washington state, the government has decided ferry passengers should cover 70 per cent of operating costs.
If the B.C. government adopted a similar approach to our neighbours to the south, fares would be about 30 per cent lower.
There are serious economic consequences to the government’s decision to treat B.C. Ferries differently from every other form of public transportation in the province.
A Vancouver family of four thinking of a weekend getaway can drive to Whistler, on the new Sea to Sky Highway, without any extra charge. They can head to Kelowna on the Coquihalla without tolls.
Or they can pay an extra $260 for the ferry round trip to visit Victoria or Tofino (reservation fee included).
This government has decided travel in much of the province is a shared responsibility that we all pay for. But not when it comes to B.C. Ferries.
That should be an election issue. All parties need to defend the status quo or offer a new vision for B.C. Ferries, one that is fairer and encourages economic growth and jobs.
