A2 - Wednesday, February 23, 1983 - North Shore News

strictly personal

As critics pointed out, the
policy reversed the normal
laws of free entrprise where
you pay more for improved
service, not less. And there
were complaints that tourists
weren't going to like it
much.

by Bob Hunter

trained crew.

In all, 1 don’t think it was
unreasonable for the cor-
poration to inch the fares up
in November. The new fees
amount to 20 cents per
Passenger more, 95 cents per
vehicle.

Considering the kind of
economic waves the ferries
have been taking over the
bow, I don't think Cap'n
Hodgson and his crew have
done too badly at all. Ex-
cellence is still the norm.
Perfection take forever.

Bucking heavy seas

THE B.C. FERRY CORPORATION has been

Yet for all these problems,
the most obvious thing I
notice about the ferry sytsem
is the fact that size has not
yet destroyed its efficiency.

. Horseshoe Bay in late  1t has grown since 1960 from
plowing through some rough waters for the last summer leaving | ony 4 a two-vessel operation to a
year. When the Queen of Prince Rupert ran ‘™aller one-tevel loading 6 ship armada capable of

aground near Bella Bella in August,

somehow symbolic.

Since then, the captain
involved has been demoted.
And of course the Dogwood
Fleet continues its routine
task of navigating some of
the trickiest waters in-
world.

it was

Operating expenses soared
by 26.7 per cent.

The system had to cope
with a provincial govern-
ment decision to cut its

cent. As a result, service had

facility and long line-ups, it
seemed to confirm = the
ancient adage, “It never
rains but it pours.”

For Stuart Hodgson, the
ferry’s chairman of the board
and chief executive officer,
there must have been
moments during this rough

when—he——was—
reminded of his days as a

carrying 12 million people
and four million vehicles a
year.

I don’t like the new “B.C.
spirit” logo on the ships. It's
tacky. But that’s a detail.

Far more important is the
news that the University of
Washington has concluded a

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study which shows B.C. ferry

. assenge at less msk

to be timmed, a move gunner on the dreaded eon people. travelling in

Unless something goes which was applauded by Murmansk run during the Puget Sound, despite the
wrong, we tend toforget that absolutely no one. Second World War. '

a virtual navy is at work
every day in British
Columbia. The real story
about the ferry system is how

By October, the mood had
gotten so bad that a
blockade by angry citizens

The irony for Hodgson is
that he had barely got himslf
seated firmly in the saddle of
the giant Crown corporation

vastly greater
hazards involved.

physical

The factors? Difference in
operating procedures, vessel

good it 1s. turned back about 100 cars when one thing after another design, = emergency

and forced the Queen of started to go wrong. capabilities, and,

The last year was probably Langdale to sail virtually (Hodgson retired from his significantly, a lower per-
the

worst in the fleet's
history. Whereas ferry
traffic had been increasing at
a rate of 10 per cent per year
in previous years, growth
suddenly fell off to a mere
two per cent.

This brought revenue
down by 11.3 per cent while

Polling station
for Woodcroft

ONE MORE polling station

has come on-stream for ‘4OKGOLD « 10 K GOLD
North V ver District 7
residents mnow council] has UN ICORN PEGASUS

approved establishing a poll

in a private residential $ 00 Taste the many foods prepared with SATURDAY
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only the building's 844
registered voters but also
2,000 residents within the
neighborhood.

In last November's
municipal elections 106 of
the 844 eligible voters in
Woodcroft exercised their
right to cast ballots.

It is expected the
additional = polling © station
will cost District) taxpayers
about $1,000

that

empty to Horseshoe Bay. In
Gibsons, ferry officials were
greeted with hostility when
they arrived to explain the
cuts.

Soon afterwards, two
fernes had to be pulled from
service because of cracks in
engine plates.

When the Queen of Surrey
slammed into Dock No. 1 at

post on the International
Jomt Commission to take
charge of the ferries.)
Pehaps the worst blow was
the latest — the decision by
Victoria to shelve the new
ferry ticket pricing policy
which allowed regular users
to buy in adyance at
discount rates with a
of loading

guarantee
privileges.

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