BC Ferries鈥� ridership levels have sunk to lows unseen for more than a decade and show little sign of resurfacing anytime soon.
Network-wide passenger numbers, the corporation announced last week, dropped 3.7 per cent and the number of vehicles fell 4.2 per cent compared to this time last year.
Although that may mean shorter passenger lineups, it doesn鈥檛 bode well for a company already projected to lose $20-million before the end of the current fiscal year. Given a stagnant U.S. economy, stringent border formalities, soaring loonie and iffy summer weather, it鈥檚 no surprise tourists have voted to pass on a trip aboard BC Ferries.
What is surprising is how discussion about reasons behind the low ridership have thus far avoided the $54.35 question. That鈥檚 the return fare for two people and a regular car to travel between Vancouver Island and Salt Spring and we all know it鈥檚 a price that鈥檚 risen significantly in recent years.
All of the reasons offered for this year鈥檚 ridership woes undoubtedly play a role, but BC Ferries won鈥檛 admit what role the price figures into the mix.
It鈥檚 unfortunate because without that information, regular ferry users may have to deal with the type of dumbfounding solutions floated by BC Ferries鈥� CEO David Hahn late last week. Given that the cost of fuel and labour are outside of the corporation鈥檚 direct control (the former dictated by world market, the latter governed by negotiations with the ferry workers鈥� union), a clear solution to raise revenues is higher ferry fares, Hahn told members of the media last week
No mention of last week鈥檚 ill-timed decision by BC Ferries鈥� board chair to defend the $315,000 annual pension Hahn will receive when he retires in 2013, just the prospect of even higher ferry fares.
With plenty of time before his 10 years at the helm are up, the CEO has set out to conduct a comprehensive review to make up the now more than $20-million anticipated end-of-year shortfall.
Without more funding from the province, most of us are all-too familiar with how that money is supposedly recovered.
Too bad staying at home on the island doesn鈥檛 appear to send the right message.
