Selling alcohol on ferries a bad idea
What are you thinking? Selling alcoholic beverages on the ferries does not make sense. Do you really have to cater to liquor consumers during the one and a half to two hour crossing? Can they not wait until they are off the ferry?
More importantly, is it responsible to sell beverage alcohol on our marine highway? How will you monitor who will be driving once the ferry berths at its destination? How will you monitor who is drinking alcohol and how much s/he is drinking?
The longest crossing between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island is a mere two hours in duration. If a passenger were to consume two alcoholic beverages during the crossing, s/he would not have enough time to metabolize the alcohol in his/her system and would thus be legally impaired. It seems irresponsible to provide beverage alcohol to people who will be operating their motor vehicles within two hours of consuming their drinks. Moreover, the safety risk that these passengers will present to the other passengers seems to outweigh any benefits that the BCFC might expect. It seems like an unnecessary liability that the BCFC ought to seriously reconsider.
I think it is critical to remember that this is a marine highway for which all passengers pay a toll. It just so happens that, unlike other tolled sections of highway or bridges, the vehicles come to a full stop for a couple of hours. But we wouldn’t serve alcohol at the highway or bridge toll booth, so why would we do so on our marine highway?
With WiFi, TVs, game rooms for youngsters and teens, a quiet lounge for the busy traveller, shops, and computer desks, the ferries no longer resemble the highway extension they were meant to be, but more like short trip cruise ships. This is nice, but don’t go overboard!
Daph and Judy van der Boom
Mill Bay