Ferry workers’ union calling for changes
Posted May 20, 2012 12:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – Despite the cancellations, travellers are not facing longer than one sailing wait on BC Ferries this weekend. That has ferry workers calling for changes, although they admit it won’t be easy to get you travelling to the islands again.
Richard Goode with the BC Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union says high fares, in combination with a weakened economy, are dropping passenger numbers to an unsustainable level.
“People can’t afford [it]. Where they used to go to Vancouver Island, they’d go to Denman and Hornby, but you don’t see that. You see the commuter runs going back and forth with people working on the big island, but you don’t see the tourism like you used to.”
Goode notes they have also seen a big drop in tourists from south of the border.
He says workers need to work with management to find a way to help bring ridership back up.
“We’d be fools not to. You can’t put your head in the sand and say everything’s the same as it was 20 years ago. The economy has changed,” he stresses.
BC Ferries has experienced a 3.5 per cent slump in vehicle traffic over the last year.
