B.C. Ferries to scuttle plan to trim services on larger routes
B.C. Ferries says it will scuttle plans to trim services on its money-making routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland and instead will find other ways to cut $4.9 million.
Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said Thursday the major routes earn up to 80 per cent of revenues, while the minor routes on the Gulf Islands and at northern ports are traditional money-losers.
Marshall said cuts to the Vancouver Island to Metro Vancouver routes would hurt the firm’s bottom line because it means fewer customers.
“We earn 80 per cent of our revenues on the majors,” she said. “That’s where we definitely see the high-traffic volume. The major routes cross-subsidize the minor routes.”
Sailings were reduced on 16 of the smaller routes last spring. Marshall said since 2008 major routes were cut by eight per cent, including the cancellation of some weekend sailings.
“But it just wouldn’t benefit the system at all to be cutting any more service,” she said.
B.C. Ferries has been engaged in an effort to cut costs by $54 million and stop rising fares. Route and service cuts were billed as primary targets to hit that target.
B.C. Ferries says its contest to name a new fleet of vessels won’t be sunk even as people mock the firm’s fare costs, service cuts and executive salaries with suggested monikers like “Coastal Cash Grab.”
The corporation began its #NameAFerry campaign Tuesday, asking the public to name three new vessels for a chance to win over $500 in ferry travel. But cheeky social-media users quickly grasped the chance to ridicule the quasi-Crown corp.
A deluge of proposed names has included entries such as “Coastal Community Collapse,” “Queen of Increasing Fares” and “Spirit of Unfettered Capitalism.”
Another suggestion: “Queen of the Oblivious Marketing Department.”
Marshall said the corp. received over 1,400 entries within 24 hours, and most of them were serious.
“We’ve seen the naming suggestions on social media,” she said. “We think some of them are quite funny.”