The British Columbia Coastal Transportation Society's 10-year ferry fare increase table released last week, and published in the Comox Valley Record, was incorrect.
"It was recently brought to our attention that there were certain discrepancies in our published Fare Increase Table," society directors write in a long apology on their website. "For this we apologize to everyone as we try always to provide accurate information.
"We also want to apologize to BC Ferries for presenting information that was inaccurate and misrepresented the facts of an already-very difficult decision-making process."
The calculations were made using discounted fare rates from 2003 and full fare rates from 2013, rather than comparing discounted rates to discounted rates or full rates to full rates. Due to the method BCCTS used to calculate numbers provided by the Ferry Advisory Committees and taken from BC Ferries' website, the calculations were skewed, making the fare increase percentages appear much higher than they actually are.
BCCTS, in its apology, notes FACs already periodically calculate long-term fare increase percentages.
"Our leadership has determined that this work is rightly the mandate of the Ferry Advisory Committees to whom we will leave it going forward," society directors continue.
"We wish to apologize to the members of the various FACs, with our hopes that our erroneous presentation has in no way reflected poorly on their excellent work, and we thank them for their patience and understanding as we have worked through this issue."
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com