Wash. ferries are extension of road system: NDP ferry critic
Posted October 20, 2013 7:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The NDP’s ferry critic has come back from a five-day fact finding mission in Washington State.
The trip has reinforced the NDP’s stand that ferries should be run as part of the highway system.
Claire Trevena embarked on her trip, wanting to know how the Washington ferries are able to keep fares substantially lower than those of BC Ferries.
She says for one, the state treats ferries like tolled roads, with fares at a level that won’t impede travel.
“Both ferry users and legislators have actually looked at private models for running the ferries and have decided that it doesn’t work and that it’s not sustainable. And so they are keeping the ferries firmly in the hands of the state,” she notes.
She says because the ferries are run by the state, there is legislation stipulating where new vessels can come from.
“In building new ferries, they have a requirement that they have to build new ferries in Washington state. Unlike here where we’re having three new ferries built, which could be built anywhere in the world, they care about jobs in Washington state.”
BC Ferries is semi-private, in that it has been contracted by the BC government to provide ferry service. The BC government provides annual subsidies.
