Ferry service defends fare hike

B.C. Transportation Minister Claire Trevena says she is “extremely disappointed” with a plan by B.C. Ferries to remove fuel rebates, less than two months after the provincial government put a fare-reduction strategy in place.

In a letter to B.C. Ferries board chairman Donald Hayes, Trevena writes that she was “surprised and disappointed” to learn last week that the ferry service was planning to announce the removal of fuel rebates of 2.9 per cent on major and minor routes and 1.9 per cent on northern routes.

But Mark Collins, the president and CEO of B.C. Ferries, says he doesn’t know why the change would be a surprise because it has been negotiating with the transportation ministry about the future of the rebate system for the last six months.

The rebate and surcharge system has been in place for 13 years, and Collins says the cost has been added or subtracted from fares 18 times since then.

Trevena says the government is willing to negotiate with B.C. Ferries to avoid the increase and she is disappointed that despite the request, the company has decided to move forward with fare hikes.

Collins says up until this point the ministry was asking only for a delay, but if the government wants to consider more funding, B.C. Ferries will give the government a few weeks to see what it can come up with.

He says the increase would amount to about 50 cents for passengers and a $1.70 for vehicles on major routes and would come to about 30 cents for a passenger and another 60 cents for a vehicle on a small route.