Dear Commissioner Hage,
This follows up on my March 23, 2023 open letter to you in which I summarized problems created by BC Ferries鈥� failure to engage meaningfully with Denman residents. This failure has created a lack of trust between residents and BCF.
Equally responsible for a breakdown of public confidence, however, is evidence that BCF鈥檚 statistical reporting either of the Baynes Sound Connector service performance or of community feedback cannot be trusted.
Documents submitted to the BC Ferry Commission contain what appears to be sloppy bookkeeping, shadow puppetry, fudging the numbers鈥�. I prefer to use the term magical thinking to describe the frequency with which BC Ferries attempts to look good in reports and reviews by altering numbers and avoiding evidence.
The Quarterly Report on the BCF fleet鈥檚 performance to September 2022, for example, underreports the number of Baynes Sound Connector cancellations. On one chart only three cancellations are recorded. However, on page 9 in the same QR, the following evidence of frequent mechanical failures and service interruptions contradicts this magical thinking:
The Baynes Sound Connector experienced a number of mechanical delays and cancellations, including recurring issues with the bolts on the bull wheel. Cancellations or delays related to this occurred on July 12, 25, 26 and 30, August 22, 25 and September 26. In all cases, service resumed after repairs were completed. There have been no further related mechanical issues.
On July 27, a flood occurred in the engine room of the Baynes Sound Connector. Passengers were disembarked and the vessel transited to Buckley Bay where repairs were completed. Several afternoon and evening sailings were cancelled before service resumed for the last sailings of the night. The vessel operated in shuttle mode until all traffic was cleared.
A local retired Professor of Transportation Economics speculates 鈥淭his seems to indicate that the BSC must have missed some scheduled sailings on at least 8 days within the quarter. Assuming that a minimum of 2 sailings were missed on each day, then the report of round-trip cancellations should record a minimum of 16 missed sailings, not 3.鈥�
Magical thinking is indicated also in VP Barabash鈥檚 assurance to you in his 2021 service review of the BSC that interruptions were 鈥渋nfrequent.鈥� Contradictory evidence of frequent cancellations is found in a BCF zip file that is roughly summarized as follows:
Jan. 1 Weather problem; two cancellations
Jan. 20 Final plastic coated cables installed; one cancellation
Feb. 12 Barrier gate hydraulic problem; cancellations
Feb. 20 Staff issue; cancellation
Apr. 12-21 Cables upgrade; MV Quinitsa substituted
May 31 Mechanical problem; multiple cancellations
June 28 Drive motor problem; late sailing
June 29 Computer system failure; multiple cancellations
June 30 Mechanical issue; late sailing
July 6 Mechanical problem; late sailing
July 7 Terminal power failure; late sailing
Aug. 19 Equipment exchange; one cancellation
Sept 29 High winds; all sailings cancelled from 2:30 pm
Nov. 17/14/21 Readiness drills; two cancellations each day
Nov. 27 Mechanical problem with rescue boat; cancellations
Dec. 26 Mechanical problem with rescue boat; cancellations
Dec. 25 Breaker issue; delayed sailing, cancellation
That VP Barabash claims in his review to you that he expects the cable ferry problems to diminish is astounding, given the verified frequency of mechanical failures. The evidence overwhelmingly indicates that the cable ferry is a failed experiment and that we can expect a recurrence of four- and six-hour waits. It also indicates that BCF is breaching its own well-promoted code of ethics to report honestly. In addition, to project a future improvement without substantive evidence is clearly an exercise in magical thinking.
Despite being assured in 2018 that the community would continue to be involved in designing the Gravelly Bay TDP, to date there has not been a single gesture to consult with the Denman FAC or the Friends of Denman Forests, the group that is staging the protest at the Gravelly Bay terminal site. This avoidance of community input is a breach of the 台湾MM裸聊室 Ferry Act.
The November 2022 45-minute in-house community engagement event did not include the Gravelly Bay TDP. Nor have we been informed about why in 2018 BCF ignored our feedback to preserve and protect a rural environment and instead, approved a plan that involved the removal of trees needed to provide shade and sequester CO2.
Rather than respecting our feedback, BCF dismisses, misrepresents and even redacts community feedback as indicated in the November 2022 Public Engagement Summary of a 45-minute community consultation found on Denman鈥檚 BCF Community Page. Note that 52 comments were redacted out of a total of 74.
Note also that the verbatim Denman comments in the appendices overwhelmingly comment on the unreliable cable ferry and on the inadequacy of consultations. In the summary of island feedback in November, however, BCF claims that most of the comments addressed the speed and size of the BSC. The lack of references to speed and size indicates another example of magical thinking.
This pattern of statistical sleight of hand reminds me of a cartoon of a pyramid of three monkeys, each with paws over eyes, mouth and ears, indicating see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil, and the caption reads NO PROBLEM.
Commissioner Hage: the trust issue with BC ferries and Denman/Hornby Islands has reached an absolute tipping point.
Asking BCF to submit QRs on the service performance of the BSC to help build public confidence is too late. Residents need transparency and we need the cascading problems created by BCF to be addressed and resolved. I understand it is the task of the Office of the Commissioner to resolve complaints that BCF has failed to mitigate.
Therefore, in the spirit of beginning the process of building trust, I urge you to attend the meetings with the Hornby and Denman FACs in May. Continued magical thinking will not solve our lack of trust with our interactions with BCF. Respectfully,
Sharon Small,
Friends of Denman Forests
