VICTORIA — BC Ferries is considering major changes to service between Vancouver Island and the mainland, including closing one Nanaimo terminal and funnelling all traffic through Tsawwassen instead of Horseshoe Bay. The proposals are part of a massive rethink of BC Ferries mid-Island service, in an attempt to drive down billions in new capital costs and ultimately slow the rapid rise of ticket prices. They were outlined in an “efficiency plan” quietly posted to the independent ferry commissioner’s website last month and confirmed by the ferry corporation and government on Tuesday. No final decisions have been made, but Transportation Minister Todd Stone said Tuesday that BC Ferries is analyzing the scenarios with the goal of public consultation in mid-2015 and final decisions by the end of that year. “It’s plausible to consider a scenario in the not-to-distant future whereby the vast majority of traffic from Nanaimo could potentially go through Tsawwassen,” Stone said in an interview with The Vancouver Sun on Tuesday. “But those decisions have not been made and (BC Ferries) is in the early stages of even looking at it.” At the Horseshoe Bay terminal early Wednesday morning, almost all the commuters interviewed were adamantly against BC Ferries' proposal to scrap the route between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo. Some didn't want to give their names but one woman was visibly upset, saying she was "100 per cent" against the idea. Heather Walker travels to work in downtown Vancouver often by walking on the Departure Bay ferry and then taking a bus in Horseshoe Bay to downtown. She doesn't have a car and says it would be "impossible" to take a longer ferry to Tsawwassen and then a two-hour bus to Vancouver. "I commute on foot all the time from Nanaimo. It would be impossible..it's crazy." "I know a lot of people who travel that route and it would be such a huge deal to them," said Simon Gidora. "That's a huge drive (Tsawwassen) for them...I think it's not a good idea." "It's ridiculous," said Carol Feeney, who was on her way to Nanaimo from Horseshoe Bay where she's lived for 20 years. "I have to go to the Tsawwassen one and that's way out of my way." Lisa Pietrow of Bowen Island said there would be far less traffic at the terminal, but it would be bad business. "I don't think it would be good for tourism for the north part of Vancouver Island. It's going to be inconvenient for the people who live there but it's also going to be much more inconvenient for visitors as well." Shortly after 8 a.m, the first ferry from Departure Bay arrived, commuters lined up at the bus but many darted across the street to the closest coffee shop to get their morning java buzz before work. Alfred Haley has owned the shop, located across the street from the Horseshoe Bay terminal, for 10 years. He called the proposal deeply troubling. "This will absolutely kill our business," he said, adding that he's noticed a slowing of business ever since the ferry fees were raised. "The vast majority of our customers are from that ferry service."

Haley said he hopes there will be a full public input process, noting that many small business owners in Horseshoe Bay will suffer. It’s the first time BC Ferries has openly floated an overhaul of its profitable major routes between Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island, which account for 80 per cent of its revenue and subsidize the money-losing minor routes to coastal and gulf islands. Reducing or ending the Nanaimo-Horseshoe Bay route could mean drivers from Nanaimo would have to dock in Tsawwassen and travel all the way across Metro Vancouver back to the North Shore and West Vancouver. Key to the discussion is $200 million in upgrades BC Ferries says are required to Horseshoe Bay’s transfer decks. It’s the biggest non-vessel expense in a capital plan of almost $3 billion over the next 10 to 12 years and Stone said he has challenged BC Ferries on whether it’s really necessary. Any change to Horseshoe Bay service becomes intertwined with whether BC Ferries needs six new major vessels over the next 15 years, and whether Nanaimo should continue to be served by two ferry terminals, at Departure Bay and Duke Point, according to the efficiency document. “What I’ve said to [BC Ferries CEO] Mike Corrigan and the folks at BC Ferries is now is the time to take a look at whether or not we continue to require two terminals in Nanaimo or could those two terminals be consolidated into one terminal, perhaps at Duke Point,” said Stone. “And what does the long term view look like in terms of options with respect to Horseshoe Bay?” Even if Nanaimo traffic shifted from Horseshoe Bay to Tsawwassen, there would still need to be a smaller terminal at Horseshoe Bay to service the smaller Bowen Island and Sunshine Coast routes, said Corrigan. “There’s no scenario where a Horseshoe Bay terminal won’t be there,” Corrigan said in an interview. “The only scenario would be likely to move one route out of there, or half a route out of there.” There’s also the possibility of looking at passenger service from the Island, he said. The Horseshoe Bay terminal is hamstrung because of congestion in the harbour, topographical challenges, scheduling problems, limited terminal space, vehicle traffic backlogs and “significantly higher risk” that any construction will blow the $200 million budget, reads the efficiency report. The new 40-kilometre South Fraser Perimeter Road, which links the Tsawwassen terminal to north Surrey, has improved the potential for more Island traffic to land at Tsawwassen, said BC Ferries and Stone. Corrigan said the ferry corporation has to look at all options to optimize the system and save as much money as possible, and that Horseshoe Bay is a “very difficult terminal to operate.” “All options are on the table,” he said. “No decisions have been made.” The ferry document admits the sweeping proposals will “challenge historically established notions of how BC Ferries’ service is delivered to the mid-Island corridor, and will require changes in customer behaviour.” The report lists numerous new ideas to drive down costs, purchase fewer vessels, alter routes and overhaul the reservation system in a bid to save millions of dollars over the next 10 to 20 years, and combat the low ridership and rising costs that have landed the quasi-private ferry corporation in financial trouble.