While B.C. Ferries is a service, not a profitmaking corporation, it still should be run according to good business practices as much as possible And running ferries where there is little or no traffic is not good business.
To trim costs, the ferries corporation will eliminate 98 ferry sailings between 91原创 Island and the mainland from October to May. Thirty-two underutilized sailings between Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen will be cut, although the main schedule will be unaffected. The biggest cut will be 48 trips eliminated from the Duke Point-Tsawwassen route. The Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay route will lose 18 sailings.
There's a bright future for the person who can devise a system in which ferry sailings are matched perfectly to traffic, but that's impossible. It's better to have a few empty spots on a ferry than leave a lineup of cars waiting at the terminal, but when some vessels consistently sail three-quarters empty and when ferry crew members outnumber passengers, it's time to make cuts.
Due to the nature of B.C.'s geography, some ferry routes will never make money. People who live on the smaller islands require regular ferry service, even though the number of passengers might not cover costs.
And don't go looking to eliminate "luxuries" on the major routes as a way to save money - the extras such as gift shops and buffets are money-makers that help reduce costs, rather than adding to them. Also, remember that ferry staffing levels are governed by federal safety rules; all those cooks and clerks would have to be there whether or not they were flipping burgers and making change.
Eliminating sailings will result in some inconvenience, but practicality limits how much we can pay for convenience. Blame higher fares, if you will - you can argue that the corporation is killing the goose that laid the golden egg by trying to wring more money from passengers. Or blame the economy - certainly, high fuel prices and fewer American tourists have taken their toll.
But tourists are not B.C. Ferries' mainstay, nor should they be seen as such - ferries are part of the provincial highways system and provide an essential service.
That doesn't mean they should be free - living on an island comes with extra costs. It might not seem fair, but we should not expect government to smooth out every geographical inequity (although how the province can demand a user-fee service on the coast while providing free inland ferries continues to defy both logic and ideology).
B.C. Ferries should continue to tailor its services to demand, to put the vessels where the passengers are. How can anyone complain about the elimination of a service that isn't being used?
Better a leaner service that pays for itself than a bloated service that prices itself out of existence.
