So BC Ferries CEO David Hahn has written a letter to Victoria’s city council asking that they commit to more policing in the provincial capital’s downtown core. Why? Because his customers are freaked by all the panhandlers and such, and the police need more money to “increase their presence”.
Erm…no. As a kid who grew up in Victoria and experienced the love and affection of its police force on dozens of occasions (they love skateboarders over there), I’d sooner have our government build a bridge to the island than give its hyper-aggressive police force another fleet of BMW motorcycles, a gym renovation, and new wraparound Oakley blades for every Sgt. Brett, Darryl, and Barry. Beyond that, I think it’s pretty common knowledge now that more police never do anything to alleviate homelessness, mental illness, or drug addiction. That might seem counter-intuitive, but so is paying $100 crossing the Strait of Georgia.
So naturally my first reaction to Hahn’s plea was a rather histrionic shut up you thieving pirate bastard…you’ve jacked up the fares so much that it almost makes better sense to swim to Swartz Bay, but that’s only because I miss my Mom, dislike several of the city’s testostocops, and think our new super ferries have the dumbest names in all of Christendom (I’d take the Queen of Esquimalt over the Coastal Celebration anyday). Plus, he’s just plain wrong.
Thankfully, we have Canwest’s aptly named Bill Cleverley to give Hahn a proper tongue-in-cheek what for…
Hahn, who wrote a letter to Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin and council calling for an increase to the police budget, says the downtown area has been plagued by property crime, homelessness and panhandling for many years, “severely” damaging the community’s reputation.
Those problems are repeatedly cited by B.C. Ferries customers, he says. “They love the city — they just don’t feel safe.”
In his letter, Hahn says Victoria police are “under-resourced” and need additional funding to increase their presence and improve the image of the region’s downtown.
Ironically, though, the top complaint cited by visitors in the latest Tourism Victoria exit surveys was not safety but high ferry prices.
Moral: When you’re thought of as Blackbeard in a suit, you should probably lay low and not venture unsolicited opinions to serious people on subjects you know nothing about. Oh, and I hope your parrot looses extra gloopy droppings upon your neck and shoulders.
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No shit. Funny, I read this article in the TC tonight after work and as someone who lives here and spends time downtown, what’s the big deal? More bad shit goes down involving rich kids and daddy’s BMW in Oak Bay anyways, just like always. Poor people usually aren’t the problem, it’s the rich people you have to look out for.
Money line from the article:
“In fact, the number of people citing high ferry prices rose to 126 in 2009 from 112 the year before. Forty-four people cited panhandlers — down from 62 the year before — and safety isn’t even mentioned.”
At least walk-on fares are still reasonable.
Matt.
I find the unwashed masses on the Nanaimo Vancouver run to be far more scary than the crackheads meandering around Victoria. They should screen for “poor people hair” and Brut 33 on that freighter!
The problem with BC Ferries is entirely the fault of the Provincial government and how it was privatized.
By any conventional measure of capitalism, Dave Hahn is a roaring success. The company is profitable, demand continually outstrips supply, every competitor has gone under, profits are good despite rising costs of operations. Equipment failures are a fact of life, and they really aren’t that frequent.
If demand outstrips supply, BC Ferries *should* be increasing costs…by tradition economic thinking, in any case.
How was he able to achieve this remarkable success? The government gave him a total monopoly by giving him the routes, the boats and–this is the part that was the mistake–THE TERMINALS.
The terminals should have remained in public hands, owned by the People of British Columbia as part of the road network. Charge a standard landing fee for a craft. This would have allowed anybody who WANTED to to offer a competitive service landing at the same terminals. It also would have given the government some price leverage by adjusting the landing fee.
If somebody wanted to purchase a modern fleet or vessels which was more fuel efficient, they could undercut BC Ferries based on operating costs (same landing fee, cheaper operation.)
Instead, the government gave BC Ferries the damn terminals. This means that if I want to start a new ferry service (and really…who doesn’t?) I need to negotiate with…yes, BC Ferries…or build my own terminal.
Imagine Air Canada owning the airports. Would WestJet ever have had a chance?
it’s idiotic.
David Hahn is a better politician than the politicians are. Follow his history from the very beginning of BC Ferries. He has never tried to hide anything from the general public. We always knew where he stood in regards to public safety and always was in the fore front of explaining it to the public.
Fare increase add another 4$ to the rates. That is one cup of coffee at Starbucks a week.
Jane
Last I bought a coffee at Starbucks it was under 2 bucks. But don’t let hyperbole get in the way of your valid points.
Firstly, on revenues of over $680M, once you subtract what it costs BC Ferries to provide its various services ($674M, incl. Fuel, Maintenance, Interest Payments, wildly expensive Labour, etc.) its profit margin is a tiny 1%, way below that of comparable publicly traded companies. If it was really trying to gouge the average consumer with exorbitant prices, you’d see its revenues far exceed its costs. Moreover, its profits and thus its fares are governed an independent commissioner per the Coastal Ferries Act, not by management.
Secondly, David Hahn is running a company of over 4,000 employees, and revenues over a half billion dollars. His salary was reviewed in a study by Hewitt, a consulting firm, and was found to be in the lower end of comparable public firms. To get a talented manager for a firm that size, you need to pay a competitive wage. Or it could hire a squirrel. That would be cheaper.
Finally, on the issue of allowing competition, here are the facts: the vast majority of BC Ferries routes between northern communities are unprofitable. It costs more to operate them, than the revenues they bring in. In fact, theyre subsidized by the southern routes that turn a profit, again per the Coastal Ferries Act. So, if you allow competition in, maybe they could do our main routes for cheaper, using cheaper, non-union labour. But that would strip customers from BC Ferries southern routes, dry up critical revenue and basically force it to fold its northern routes. So fine, let competition in, but you then have to let BC Ferries operate like an actual business.
“…the vast majority of BC Ferries routes…”
At what point does a majority become vast?
Good points, mind.