VICTORIA — More than 20,000 people are urging the provincial government to fold BC Ferries back into the transportation ministry, as part of a petition to be tabled in the legislature on Tuesday.

The electronic Change.org petition, with 20,000 signatures, urges the government to reclaim the quasi-private ferry corporation into the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, to help reduce costs and fares.

“We’ve been asking for three things, reduce the fares, restore the service, and put BC Ferries back into the ministry,” said Jim Abram, chairman of the Strathcona Regional District, who is helping bring the petition to Victoria with organizer Laural Eacott.

“(The petition) concentrated on the third (issue), which is the most important, and that is to put BC Ferries back into the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, not realign it as highways or any other wiggle words the NDP is using, but actually reinsert it where it used to be.”

Abram said the move would save BC Ferries and provincial government money by eliminating the “huge multi-armed monster” that has become the BC Ferry Corporation, with its staff, administration and downtown offices.

BC Ferries is struggling with low ridership, rising costs and a $3-billion, 12-year plan to upgrade terminals and replace aging ships.

The ferry service used to be a ministry function in the early 1970s, then it was a government-run Crown corporation, before the B.C. Liberal government decided in 2002 to spin it off into a private company that received an annual taxpayer subsidy.

Returning it to government control would also mean absorbing billions in ferry debt onto the core government budget, which Transportation Minister Todd Stone has warned could imperil the province’s overall credit rating.

Independent Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington will introduce the petition in the legislature Tuesday.

Ferry fares are set to rise in April under previously approved hikes.

The public will get a glimpse at the 2016 fare increases in March when B.C.’s independent ferry commissioner releases interim price caps. The government can then increase its subsidy, cut routes or alter its contract with BC Ferries to drive down the commissioner’s price cap by December.

rshaw@vancouversun.com

===

Click here to report a typo or visit vancouversun.com/typo.

Is there more to this story? We'd like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. CLICK HERE or go to vancouversun.com/moretothestory