VICTORIA: In advance of the government report on BC Ferries due out this week, the BC division of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today released the results of a Freedom of Information request obtained from BC Ferries. It reveals that three ferry routes had a net income (profit) of almost $45 million for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2001. The other 23 money-losing routes produced net losses of almost $81 million. The information was obtained from BC Ferries by the Federation via a Freedom of Information request.

"If you travel between Vancouver and Victoria or Nanaimo, you subsidize every other route - 23 of them - in the ferry system," said CTF-BC director Mark Milke. "There are two important issues at stake here: One is that the current system makes no sense and unfairly makes one rider subsidize another. Every ticket should pay the same proportionate cost of operating that route if the government insists on owning the ferry system. Second, and preferred, because governments are likely to bend to political pressure on selected routes over the long-term - precisely as has been the case - privatization makes the most sense. Why should the government continue to operate the system and subsidize one group of riders at the expense of others "

Ferry facts:

Three main routes - Tswaassen/Swartz Bay, Horsehoe Bay/Nanaimo, and Horsheshoe Bay/Langdale - had a net income (profit) of almost $45 million last year. The most profitable route, Tswaassen/Swartz Bay, reported net income of $33.7 million.

The other 23 routes lost almost $81 million. The biggest money-loser was Swartz Bay/Outer Gulf Islands, at a cost of almost $10.2 million.
In addition to the inter-route subsidy within the ferry system, B.C. taxpayers subsidize the ferry system to the tune of $72.5 million every year through their gas taxes. Another significant taxpayer subsidy occurred when the BC government also swallowed $1.08 billion in BC Ferries debt in 2000.

"It is often argued that ferry service is akin to paving roads in other parts of the province," said Milke. "This is nonsense. Taxpayers don't re-pave the same roads every year at a cost of $81 million while making money on other roads. It is time for fundamental reform of the money-losing ferry system in British Columbia."