Editor:
I feel blessed and spared when I hear about the ocean off Florida being 40 degrees so that the coral cannot survive, or when four people lose their lives in an uncharacteristic torrential downpour in Nova Scotia.
However, after finally being able to get home safely early Friday morning I am sad about our ferry system. It is our only practical means of connecting off this Coast and increasingly the ferry is something to be dreaded.
The other week, I read a column in the Vancouver Sun decrying the state of the BC Ferry Corporation as headed by bus to the 11:30 p.m. sailing and got my ticket at the booth where I received no information regarding whether the ferry was running on time. I proceeded to the waiting area where I got lost in my novel when suddenly I thought something was very wrong and checked the time and it was 12:25…other weary travellers were in the same stupor as I was and we looked at one another incredulously. Finally the ferry docked at 12:45 a.m. and we eventually boarded…only to be informed that there were no services available onboard as the Queen of Surrey was disabled and another ferry was substituted but had no ability to provide anything more than complimentary beverages. The chief steward and crew were empathic and they all wanted to get home too! I am disturbed because there was no effort in Horseshoe Bay to communicate to passengers what was causing the delay or an estimated ETA. I yearn for the “good old days” when there were two ferries on our run at all times, a phone number one could call and talk to a person who knew what was going on, commuter tickets for the locals and a consistent schedule. The ferries and their communication system are just plain unreliable with no accountability.
Mary Findlay, Gibsons
