Cable Ferry Unreliability Requires Clarification of BC Ferries’ Emergency Service Obligations
Dear Minister Mike Farnworth and Commissioner Eva Hage,
The Baynes Sound Connector, the only cable ferry in BC Ferries’ fleet, is chronically dysfunctional and uniquely unreliable. Since its launch in 2016, the vessel logged 80 pages of mechanical failures in its first three years of service dismissed as teething issues.To date, BC Ferries has denied 34 Freedom of Information requests for current data on service cancellations— and counters islanders’ decade of complaints by publicly reporting that the vessel has a 99.9% service reliability consistent with all other vessels in the fleet. Most recently, however, it logged 54 cancellations due to mechanical breakdowns in Q2 2024–25—the highest in the fleet—and it has continued to break down frequently after its $15 million refit. No other vessel in the fleet is crippled also by frequent maintenance and replacing pulleys and cables from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am every night when it is unlikely to be able to respond to a fire evacuation.
When a cable fell off during the evening maintenance window on May 2, 2024, BC Ferries knew the night before that the vessel would be out of service for a prolonged period of time. Yet islanders were not alerted of cancellations until 6:30 am when already waiting to board the first sailing. No arrangements were made for backup water and land taxi service or landing assistance for those with emergencies or appointments that could not be postponed. Consequently, islanders were forced to arrange their own water taxi (around $500) and private boat transportation at considerable cost and anxiety—and arrange for private landing permission. BC Ferries denied docking permission, claiming liability issues.
In a CHEK News segment covering islanders’ outrage over the cable ferry’s predictable unreliability, Gracie McDonald described her harrowing experience when transporting her dying brother to hospital. Manoeuvring her acutely distressed brother in and out of a small boat from unstable docks and carrying him across an uneven surface to a waiting vehicle compounded his suffering and her anguish. He died shortly after arriving at hospital. To date, the corporation has not mitigated anxiety and fear during these systemic breakdowns, and has yet to guarantee future emergency transportation or docking assistance.
The May 2, 2024 event exposed a glaring failure in basic coordination between BC Ferries and emergency services. Because there is no nearby public dock and BC Ferries denies landing access, emergency patients are conveyed either by air or water vessel to Comox — a minimum one hour away from Denman or Hornby. Permission to dock at Buckley Bay would significantly decrease the time to get to hospital and reduce patient discomfort. A contracted BC Ambulance water taxi departing from Comox takes two hours round trip and a half hour longer if it departed from Campbell River — or more given adverse weather and tides — before a patient is picked up by an ambulance. At low tide, an unstable patient must also be navigated down a steep ramp and across an uneven surface to reach the vessel or land. Five dedicated water taxis, fully equipped as ambulances, serve the southern islands and remote communities, but Denman and Hornby’s population is too small to guarantee priority service. According to BC Emergency Health Services, from 2016 to 2025, 156 islanders needing emergency medical assistance were conveyed by water and 10 by air. There is no data on the effect on patient recovery of prolonged stress and time to get to the ER.
Not one of the 18 amendments to the Coastal Ferry Services Contract clarifies the docking issue or ambiguities and gaps in Sections 4.01 and 4.02 addressing BC Ferries emergency service obligations. In order that BC Ferries complies with its over-arching Coastal Ferry Act mandate to provide safe and reliable service, this ambiguity demands clarification. Section 4.01 states BC Ferries use reasonable efforts to provide alternate ferry services during a Temporary Service Disruption. Aside from being vague, this obligation appears to contradict BC Ferries’ claim that providing emergency service is a courtesy and not a contractual obligation. Also, Section 4.01 does not address the corporation’s obligation to assist islanders who have off-island emergencies and cannot wait for service to resume after a predictable Temporary Service Disruption, or BC Ferries’ obligation to provide medical emergency service at night.
Section 4.02 states BC Ferries provides emergency evacuation such as fire at the request of the province. To date there is no protocol for initiating a provincial approval when faced with a fire crisis requiring prompt action. Given the likelihood that the cable ferry is immobilized during the maintenance window and after a Temporary Service Disruption, islanders are concerned they will not be evacuated. The following questions address the vagueness of Sections 4.01 and 4.02. To ensure islanders are provided with safe and reliable service during an Emergency Evacuation or Temporary Service Disruption, please answer the following questions promptly given the heightened risk of a fire evacuation and increased unreliability of the cable ferry since its refit:
- What is the protocol for initiating a provincial request for an Emergency Evacuation?
- What specifically is BC Ferries obligated to provide if an Emergency Evacuation is initiated while the cable ferry is immobilized during its 11:00 pm to 5:00 am maintenance window or after a Temporary Service Disruption—before a replacement vessel arrives?
- What medical emergency service is BC Ferries obligated to provide when the cable ferry is likely to be immobilized during the 11:00 pm to 5:00 am maintenance window?
- What reasonable efforts should BC Ferries make to arrange for a replacement vessel?
- What service is BC Ferries obligated to provide to customers who cannot wait for a replacement vessel after a Temporary Service Disruption and before service is resumed—to avoid another May 2, 2024 fiasco?
- Who bears legal liability in the event of a death or injury attributed to a documented unsafe and unreliable cable ferry during a Temporary Service Disruption or a delayed Emergency Evacuation due to the nightly maintenance window?
- If amendments to Sections 4.01 and 4.02 are required to answer the above questions, when will they be implemented and communicated to Denman and Hornby islanders?
Denman and Hornby island emergency fire and medical service groups and residents anxiously await these answers to safely plan responses. Islanders are marooned whenever Route 21 is predictably cut off by a vessel that cannot be relied upon either during the evening maintenance window or when it breaks down during the day.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon Small,
Denman Island.
cc: Hon. David Eby, Premier of British Columbia
cc: BC Ferries Authority
cc: Nicolas Jimenez, President and CEO BC Ferries
