Ferry advisory committees (FACs) across coastal B.C. are starting to find common ground with the Ministry of Transportation (MOT), after banding together to form a new advisory committee meant to relay ferry users' concerns straight to the ministry.
The inaugural meeting between the new Coastal Community FAC, an aggregate formed from the chairs of the 12 local FACs and the ministry, was held Jan. 25 in Nanaimo. At the meeting, committee members informed two ministry representatives (Kathie Miller, assistant deputy minister, and Nancy Merston, director of the MOT's marine branch) of the impact fare increases are having on ferry ridership, local economies and community well-being and finalized the terms of reference that dictate the goals of the meetings, which will be held at least twice a year.
"Our role is advisory, rather than lobbying - we're not going there to jump up and down," said Coastal Community FAC chair Tony Law, who represents the Denman and Hornby Islands FAC group. "We're creating a dialogue that hasn't happened yet."
While various FACs already provide feedback to B.C. Ferries and to ferry commissioner Martin Crilly, Law explained the new committee establishes a direct link to the ministry, whose role in running the ferry system includes disbursing the "service fee" - a subsidy intended to keep prices affordable for users of each ferry route while allowing B.C. Ferries to run at a profit. The committee also asked the ministry to consider contributing towards the expenditures B.C. Ferries needs to make to upgrade and replace aging vessels and terminals.
"We showed what B.C. Ferries has to spend to replace aging vessels," Law said, noting previous governments underfunded the then-public ferry system, leaving it with meagre funds for capital improvements when it became a quasi-private corporation under the Coastal Ferry Act in 2003. Sunshine Coast FAC member Jakob Knaus, although unable to attend the meeting, made note that over performance terms three and four, the 18 minor routes "are looking at $700 million in vessel replacement fees."
The ferry act recognizes the need for government support of smaller routes, and the committee asked the ministry to consider developing an economic sustainability strategy for the minor routes and route three (Langdale to Horseshoe Bay) in performance term two (PT2), as was done for the three "northern routes" during the first performance term (which runs until April 2008). PT2 is set to kick off in April with a fare increase of up to four per cent.
The ministry representatives said they'd have answers ready at the next meeting, when the Coastal Community FAC plans to ask more questions about the relationship between ferry service and tourism.
