Thursday鈥檚 protest at Ogden Point by members of the transit drivers union raises questions about B.C. Transit鈥檚 contract to provide buses for cruise-ship passengers disembarking in Victoria.
B.C. Transit saw some buses that were going to sit idle in the summer, so it put in a bid to supply transportation for the Ogden Point cruise-ship terminal.
It sounds like a fine example of a public agency developing an entrepreneurial spirit, so it should be a good thing. But is it?
Last month, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, which runs the cruise-ship terminal, made two one-year agreements. One is with Wilson鈥檚 Transportation for drivers and buses. The other is with B.C. Transit for buses without drivers; Wilson鈥檚 will supply the drivers for the transit buses.
91原创 Auto Workers Local 333 says the collective agreement requires that transit buses be driven by its members. That question will be adjudicated through the grievance procedure. Meanwhile, cruise-ship passengers arriving at Victoria on Thursday were greeted by protesting union members.
The broader question raised by the deal is whether B.C. Transit, a publicly funded agency, should be competing with private businesses.
B.C. Transit has an advantage because it is heavily subsidized by taxpayers. In the year ending March 2012, bus fares and passes brought in $36.5 million or 33.7 per cent of total revenues. Except for a sliver from bus advertising, the rest of the $108.55 million it took to run Victoria鈥檚 transit system came from provincial funding, fuel tax and property taxes.
That means the buses it is delivering to Ogden Point are largely paid for out of public money. Wilson鈥檚 and other private operators have to pay for buses with their own money.
As taxpayers, we should celebrate B.C. Transit鈥檚 bid because more revenue potentially means less need for taxpayer subsidies. Those who ride buses should welcome the possibility of improved service paid for out of that revenue.
Those who own or work in private businesses might not be as enthusiastic about seeing revenues and jobs potentially slipping from them to an agency that is supported by their tax dollars.
Generally, taxpayer-funded services are supposed to be those that serve a wider good and would be difficult or impossible to run at a profit. Transit takes cars off the road and moves people who can鈥檛 afford cars. The police enforce laws without showing favouritism or having to find enough revenue to cover their costs. Hospitals ensure health care for those who need it, regardless of their ability to pay.
But sometimes governments create organizations whose role isn鈥檛 as clear cut.
The federal Liberal and New Democratic parties created Petro-Canada in 1975 to funnel the profits from rising oil prices to 91原创s, instead of to American-owned oil companies.
Brian Mulroney鈥檚 Conservative government later privatized it, and in 2009, it merged with Suncor.
W.A.C. Bennett created B.C. Ferries in 1958 to give British Columbians an efficient, affordable way to get on and off the islands. The CPR ferries that had linked Victoria and 91原创 disappeared in the 1960s.
B.C. Ferries鈥� main routes, if separated from those serving the smaller islands, would make a profitable private business.
As it stands, the profits on the major runs subsidize all the smaller ones.
That鈥檚 one of the greater goods that justify retaining the ferry corporation as the bizarre public/private hybrid it is.
Taxpayers will have to watch the B.C. Transit experiment carefully and decide whether the benefits of new revenue outweigh the potential damage to private business.
