… BC Ferries sails 1,385,531 nautical miles per year, which works out to 2,566,003 km …

… This equals to three round trips to the moon and back, or …

… 64 trips around the Earth, or …

… 164 round trips on the Trans Canada Highway, from Victoria, B.C., to St. John’s, Newfoundland, or …

… 364 trips on British Columbia’s National Highway System, and …

… thanks to the ferry workers, who …

… don’t get snow days …

… who sail in all kinds of weather, as long as it is safe …

… who are trained to fight fires …

…. perform marine rescues, and handle medical emergencies …

… who are trained to protect the lives of the passengers …

… who make sure people can get to work, and kids get to school …

… and  if you live in a ferry-dependent community, make sure that the commercial goods get to you …

… including the food you eat, the clothes you wear and the car you buy …

… they transport billions of dollars of consumer goods, which represent one-fifth of the consumer spending in the province every year …

… BC Ferries is the marine highway for approximately 20 per cent of the citizens of British Columbia, and …

…. approximately half of B.C. residents have used BC Ferries in the past year (March 2011 poll Angus Reid).

 

So what do you think?

 

Is BC Ferries part of the provincial highway system — and if so, why doesn’t the Provincial Government treat is as such?

 

“So why isn’t BC Ferries recognized as a highway?”

 

The annual distance that BC Ferries covers in a year shows that BC Ferries is actually a relatively inexpensive highway to operate.

When you consider the importance BC Ferries to the province of British Columbia, you start to wonder …

 

“Why is the provincial government so determined in offloading BC Ferries?”

 

It’s not like they’re not trying to sell off any of our provincial highways. Oh wait, they tried that. It did not work.

In 2003, the provincial government announced that it was going to turn over operation, maintenance and the toll revenues of the Coquihalla to a private operator, but the plan was shelved when it met with opposition from interior communities.  If the government had succeeded with the semi-privatization of the Coquihalla, you can be assured that the tolls would still be in place.

 

“Why is BC Ferries allowed to be a quasi-private company, with the option to become totally private, acceptable for the taxpayers of British Columbia?”

 

B.C.’s government has no problem spending billions of tax dollars on other highway and transportation infrastructure, but they’re not interested in building ferries. Instead, BC Ferries receives a fee for service. Ferry users — 20 per cent of taxpayers — not only have to pay for ferry upgrades and new construction, but also contribute to the rest of the province’s transportation infrastructure projects as well, including the tariff-free inland ferries.

 

“Why is it acceptable to expect all British Columbians to help pay for transportation infrastructure projects, but when it comes to BC Ferries, the users have to pay?”  

 

Finally, the most important question that the Save Our Ferries team has been asked repeatedly over the years.

 

“WHO OWNS BC FERRIES?”