It’s being called cold comfort by some, but the government is givingĀ communities a chance to pick which sailings get dropped when BC Ferries cutsĀ come down in April.
But it’s still not clear how that’s going to be done.Ā BC Ferries says it’s going to hold community meetings, and do telephone and online surveys to get people’s thoughts about schedule options it plans to release next week.
Tony Law speaks for the Ferry Advisory Committee Chairs.Ā He says they’re pleased so far with the company’s willingness to look at ideas.
Sunshine Coast Regional District Chair Garry Nohr, meanwhile, says the idea of choosing sailings to axe came as a bit of surprise. He says communities were calling for needs assessments during the consultations and he says this may be the Ministry of Transportation’s way of responding.
Nohr says the group of coastal RD Chairs that’s been lobbying on BC Ferries issues is continuing its work, and there’s still a wide spread feeling in favour of fundamental changes like a return to direct MOTI control.
The cuts are supposed to save 18.9 million dollars. The government is also telling Ferries to save an additional 4.9 million with changes to the major routes, like Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay, by April 2016.
