BC Ferries Surcharge
This is what I submitted to the BC Ferries Commission:
To whom it may concern,
I would like to lodge an objection to the plans of the BC Ferries proposal to add a fuel surcharge. As a Vancouver Island resident, the BC Ferries service is my chief means to getting off of the island. As it is, the ferry fares are prohibitively expensive. I feel that the short term surcharge will set a precedent. If they are allowed to increase fares because of operating expenses, the BC Ferries Corporation will be encouraged to pass down any change in expenses to the consumer: labour costs, capital improvements, insurance expenses and on and on. If the BC Ferries Corporation failed to plan for variable expenses in their business model, that is a failing that their customers should not have to deal with.
I object to their "carrot-and-a-stick" approach of giving us the alternative of slowing the ferries to conserve fuel. I ask that the BC Ferries commission hold the BC Ferries Corporation to their obligations. At the very least, if the BC Ferries commission elects to allow the BC Ferries Corporation to increase sailing times, I ask that you do not allow them reduce the number of sailings that are held over the course of a day. For example, if BC Ferries wishes to add 30 min. to their Tsawwassen/Swartz Bay run; and their 13 sailings each way occur between 14 hr, 7am and 9pm; the BC Ferries Corporation would need to add 6.5 hrs to their daily duration of service. The commission cannot allow to BC Ferries to reduce the overall number of sailings. Since the BC Ferries Corporation management was privatized, I have seen an overall drop in the quality of service, chiefly an increased likelihood of sailing waits. If their scheme to slow travel times results in the reduced number of sailings, this will aggravate this problem further.
I ask that this email be included as a formal objection to the proposed fuel surcharge. If the body of this message needs to be re-presented in another format (letter by mail, fax submission, etc.) I would be pleased to supply that to the commission.
Thank you,
My solution: go to Coca-Cola and beg them for more money. Lord knows they take enough of my money as it is.
To whom it may concern,
I would like to lodge an objection to the plans of the BC Ferries proposal to add a fuel surcharge. As a Vancouver Island resident, the BC Ferries service is my chief means to getting off of the island. As it is, the ferry fares are prohibitively expensive. I feel that the short term surcharge will set a precedent. If they are allowed to increase fares because of operating expenses, the BC Ferries Corporation will be encouraged to pass down any change in expenses to the consumer: labour costs, capital improvements, insurance expenses and on and on. If the BC Ferries Corporation failed to plan for variable expenses in their business model, that is a failing that their customers should not have to deal with.
I object to their "carrot-and-a-stick" approach of giving us the alternative of slowing the ferries to conserve fuel. I ask that the BC Ferries commission hold the BC Ferries Corporation to their obligations. At the very least, if the BC Ferries commission elects to allow the BC Ferries Corporation to increase sailing times, I ask that you do not allow them reduce the number of sailings that are held over the course of a day. For example, if BC Ferries wishes to add 30 min. to their Tsawwassen/Swartz Bay run; and their 13 sailings each way occur between 14 hr, 7am and 9pm; the BC Ferries Corporation would need to add 6.5 hrs to their daily duration of service. The commission cannot allow to BC Ferries to reduce the overall number of sailings. Since the BC Ferries Corporation management was privatized, I have seen an overall drop in the quality of service, chiefly an increased likelihood of sailing waits. If their scheme to slow travel times results in the reduced number of sailings, this will aggravate this problem further.
I ask that this email be included as a formal objection to the proposed fuel surcharge. If the body of this message needs to be re-presented in another format (letter by mail, fax submission, etc.) I would be pleased to supply that to the commission.
Thank you,
My solution: go to Coca-Cola and beg them for more money. Lord knows they take enough of my money as it is.
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