Fares on BC Ferries increase again
Ferry Online Travel News 28/07/2008
Ferries has received the necessary approvals to add a second fuel surcharge this year on most of its routes, effective t
The increase in fares on B.C. Ferries will amount to 10.3 per cent on the operator’s major routes and 17.6 per cent 18 additional minor routes, in advance of the long Canadian holiday weekend.
The major routes include Departure Bay-Horseshoe-Bay, Duke Point-Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay-Tsawwassen. On these routes, the new are for a car and driver will be $61.40, up from $56. The exact amount of fare increases on the ferry operator’s smaller routes has not yet been finalised.
The new surcharges have not been well received by consumers, as they come just four months after the April 1 hike that saw rates for a car and driver increase from $53.80 to $56 on major routes.
This means a total increase in just four months of 14 per cent, or $7.60, which is an unprecedented jump in just one year.
B.C. Ferries officials are blaming the skyrocketing cost of fuel over the past year as the reason for the surcharges, commenting that they have had to deal fuel costs that have doubled since 2003. The corporation has absorbed approximately $3 million in fuel price increases this year alone, they added.
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