B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell says his government is committed to improving coastal ferry service, but he won't say what exactly that means.
The second fuel surcharge in less than a year will see fares go up August 1 by nearly 10 per cent on major routes between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island and by almost 18 per cent on most others, except those serving the north coast.
"The ferry system is a critically important public service, there's no question about it,'' Campbell said Wednesday.
"We subsidize ferry routes substantially, particularly the smaller routes we subsidize literally with millions and millions of dollars,'' he said.
But the premier side stepped questions about Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon's recent musings that reductions may be needed in ferry service to keep costs down.
The B.C. Ferry Commission allowed the publicly owned, privately managed ferry corporation to impose the hefty fuel surcharges earlier than planned.
Campbell said he's interested in hearing from B.C. Ferries about any possible cost savings.
"I mean one of the things that (B.C.) Ferries now are talking about is perhaps in some locations bridges would be more cost effective than the ferry traffic that we have right now,'' he said.
B.C. Ferry Services officials have said fuel costs have tripled in the last five years and will climb to an estimated $140 million this fiscal year.
