To the Editor,
Re: Coastal ferry fares reaching ‘tipping point’, Jan. 26.
Finally someone within the ferry system is acknowledging that the ferry ridership is down because of excessive fare rates.
B.C. Ferries yet again could have saved money in bypassing B.C. Ferry Commissioner Gord Macatee and the fees he earns just to tell us something we already have known for the past 10 years, but fell short at every turn in getting David Hahn to admit that.
Any ferry worker from a captain to a galley dishwasher has seen and known the reasons behind the the slumping traffic patterns back to the days when Hahn assumed the leadership role and saviour to our floundering ferry system 10 long years ago.
Someone should have been asking the real front-line workers why the traffic has been declining so steadily and what should be done about it.
Unfortunately, as is usually the case, the people who are always on the front line, wearing the aprons and dodging the irate drivers while making the least amount of money, are the most ignored and yet the most aware of what would and could save their jobs as well as fill the ferries.
Perhaps the ferries commisioner should sit down with a group of ferry workers from all ranks and ask them what needs to be done to revive the ridership.
Chances are he will learn a whole lot more than he already has. That would bode well for any business.
Al Strandlund
Nanaimo
