The Campbell River-Quadra-Cortes ferry route endured the biggest changes seen in a decade this past season, and now the company will hear feedback from the local Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC). BC Ferries is hosting a semi-annual meeting with the FAC at Mansons Hall on Wednesday.

Michael Lynch has been a chairmen for the FAC for five years, and noted there is more feedback coming from Cortes Islanders than from his home on Quadra. He explained the community’s opportunity to address BC Ferries executives directly.

“So far, there's no members of the public that have asked for time to make a presentation, but they still have time to approach me and do so if they wish to.”

Lynch noted 14 points will be discussed in the agenda and several issues raised by Cortes Islanders will be included. Mainly, the chairman mentioned connectivity between the two routes, with four ferry runs on the Campbell River side linking up to a singular run on the Cortes side. In relation to the Cortes Island feedback, Lynch discussed priority loading in Campbell River and the "first-come, first-serve" intention of the terminal staff. Staffing the ferries is another issue that he noted feedback on, which he relates to housing constraints on Cortes Island.

The meeting is open to the public to listen, but they can only participate if they make prior arrangements with Lynch. There will also be an open house for the public to directly engage with BC Ferries staff after the meeting at 3:30 p.m.

BC Ferries has advertised a virtual option to attend the meeting, but community members are required to reach out to engagement@bcferries.com. CKTZ attempted to request a link for this meeting and instead of a link, an auto-response indicated that the request would be answered in 10 days. 

Lynch indicated that anyone attempting to receive a link for the meeting, that had not yet, to reach out to him directly at mlynch.fac@gmail.com.

To hear more about issues to be addressed at Wednesday’s meeting, listen to the CKTZ News update below: