To the Editor,
Re: Ferries revamps online booking, Dec. 4.
A few more thoughts on the B.C. Ferries fiasco that we Islanders all seemingly have to put up with for the remainder of our lives. It is likely the rate increases we’ve had in the last several years are due to the ‘fast ferry’ disaster; why people didn’t go to jail for wasting our tax dollars, I for one will never understand.
After travelling on ferries in the U.K., I said years ago that our system should work the same way, reservations only, nice to see some changes coming on that front. It is only too bad they spent multi millions of dollars increasing the size of all the terminals over the past 10 years; this would not be needed in an all-reservation system. The parking lots in Scotland for the ferry to Northern Ireland only hold traffic for a one sailing load.
We are all disgusted with the free rides still available in the Interior. Once, while crossing the Upper Arrow Lake, I asked the crew member on the ferry, “Where do I pay?” He laughed and stated, “It’s part of the highway system.” Now it made sense why the empty logging truck on board hadn’t lifted its trailer up to shorten its length.
Now that I’ve retired, I plan to spend a whole day crossing back and forth on Upper Arrow Lake with a full-size pickup and trailer. Hope the crew asks me why.
Wayne SahlstromNanaimo
