Five options for BC Ferries after eliminating Horseshoe Bay-Nanaimo route rejected

The Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay route is staying put.

Now what happens?

The day after Transportation Minister Todd Stone publicly rejected BC Ferries’ proposal to cancel the route, the official opposition continued to hammer to government on the topic.

READ MORE: Government rules out scrapping the popular ferry route

“Government should get their handles on this file,” said NDP leader John Horgan.

“Mr. Stone is from the Interior, I appreciate that, but he has lived on Vancouver Island, he understands the importance of the ferry system in coastal communities, why in the world doesn’t he educate himself on the consequences of his behaviour?”

But BC Ferries says they proposed cancelling the route because the Horseshoe Bay terminal requires $200 million in upgrades – and that money has to come from somewhere.

“With that being taken off the table…It’s going to be very difficult to find the types of savings that people are expecting going forward if we’re going to keep fares at inflation,” says BC Ferries CEO Mike Corrigan.

Here are five possible options going forward, ranked in order of likeliness to happen.

1. Increased fares

BC Ferries claims that with the Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay cancellation off the table, rates will have to increase by four per cent each year under their current funding model.

That would mean the cost of a roundtrip from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay for one person and their car would increase from $139 to $162.

2. Increased government funding

Corrigan says fare hikes will stay around inflation, at two per cent per year, if the government increases their subsidy by $45 million over the next four years. This year, they provided about $175 million.

However, Finance Minister Mike de Jong appeared to put cold water on the idea today, telling reporters that provincial funds were tight.

3. Further cuts to coastal routes?

There exists the possibility that BC Ferries could further cut routes from those reduced in April.

READ MORE: Full list of this year’s cuts.

Legislative Bureau Chief Keith Baldrey says the chances of that are unlikely however.

“There’s not much more to cut. They’ve cut the low traffic routes, and people say they should cut things like the cafeteria, but they makes money,” he says.

“If they start cutting more, they start cutting into core services.”

4. Staffing reductions?

Those upset with the prices of BC Ferries and ongoing cuts often point to Washington State Ferries, which provide no-frill service at costs that are often much lower per mile than BC Ferries.

There are many reasons for their lower cost, but one of the biggest is staff requirements – Transport Canada requires BC Ferries to carry 48 staff on a 2000-passenger ferry, while a similar sized vessel in Washington would only require 14 staff.

To date, Transport Canada has not made any comment indicating they’re looking at changing those requirements.

5. A bridge between the mainland and Vancouver Island?

Could the never-ending debate around BC Ferries be solved by a bridge linking Vancouver Island with the rest of the province?

READ MORE: The government is studying the idea right now

It’s been discussed with varying levels of seriousness for decades, but most experts believe there are a host of reasons why it won’t happen – from the cost, to the possible environmental impacts, to the seismic threats.

The government last studied the idea in 2001 and estimated the cost to be somewhere between $8 to $12 billion dollars, with little followup on the idea.

But with a new provincially-commissioned report coming in spring 2015, that discussion will be added to the list of discussions people have about the future of BC Ferries.

WATCH: Legislative bureau chief Keith Baldrey talks about BC Transportation Minister Todd Stone’s announcement to keep the Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay ferry route in place.