When a business owner finds trouble, he or she puts on a sale, lowers prices, improves quality, encourages staff to be productive, and makes it easier for customers to purchase the product of service offered.
This business person would not fire the staff facing the customer. He or she may – if possible – remove expensive middle mangers to save money.
This is an axiom of good and proven business action.
The government of B.C. contracted a CEO and bureaucrats who are all widely experienced and successful business persons.
The taxpayers of British Columbia have hired this unbelievably costly set of principles and bureaucrats to handle the affairs of the B.C. ferry system.
Their answer to operating procedure and profits are to do the reverse of good business practice.
They increase the cost, cut the service, and fire workers who are the front line to customers, and make it more difficult to avail themselves of the service.
There is a thought that they may even hire and increase the costly middle management.
The entire system is an abysmal operation. The government is micromanaging the system, allowing some freedoms but still stirring the pot. When an organization has a monopoly, advertising is not a necessity.
Advertising details of service may be accepted, but the expense of an advertising board at Canucks hockey games, and use of an expensive box seat is unacceptable.
Who would the ferry corporation entertain and why?
Is the main use of these extravagances for corporation executives?
It is long past time that this experiment be revised to a government department like the highways department and put the needs of the consumers first.
It may be costly to change the current system, but it will be much better that the abysmal operation now handling the ferries.
D. F. Connors