BC Ferries stranded my son twice, says frustrated Megan Mansbridge
14-year old Fynn was refused a ticket twice when his bus was a minute late getting to the ferry terminal
A mother from the Sunshine Coast wants BC Ferries to be forced to wait for the bus to arrive before cutting off tickets for its sailings — especially for the last ferry of the night.
Megan Mansbridge's 14-year old son Fynn is passionate about fencing, and commutes to Richmond four times a week to train with the national fencing coach.
After a day of intense training, he gets on the bus set up to meet the last ferry at 9:15 p.m. PT.
Tickets for the sailing are cut off ten minutes before the sailing, but Mansbridge said twice the bus has pulled up to the terminal at 9:06, one minute after the cut off.
"The ticket sellers can see the bus pull up and that bus is meant to meet the time cut-off for that last sailing, but in two cases it didn't and he was refused a ticket for those sailings," she told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.
"He's exhausted at that time. He just needs to get home."
The first time, Fynn was able to stay with Mansbridge's uncle who lives in Vancouver.
The second time it happened, her uncle wasn't available, so she called another family involved in fencing she had met once at a tournament.
"It's a real imposition to call people up and say, 'Our son is stranded can you go pick him up at 10 o clock at night.' They did, bless them."
Mansbridge said she understands B.C. Ferries has a policy to ensure ferries run on time — but she said ferries are often delayed for other reasons, like the weather. She believes a small delay for the last ferry if the bus is late isn't too much to ask for.
"It's a public service, I think it's not unreasonable to expect that they'll work with the buses."
BC Ferries said it has a good relationship with the transit system and ticket attendants are notified if the bus is running late, especially for the last ferry.
"I really empathize with Ms. Mansbridge. I'm a mother and no one wants their child in a situation like that," said vice-president of customer service, Corrine Storey.
"Because safety is our first priority, we do have cut-off times for our sales and that's 10 minutes before the sailing time. We really urge all of our customers to check with both the scheduled sailing and bus time to make sure they are aligned."
Storey said if a customer is a minute or two late, attendants are able to sell that person a ticket at their own discretion.
Mansbridge wrote to her MLA — the NDP's Nicholas Simons — who told her he'll take her concerns to Transportation Minister Todd Stone.
To hear the full interview with Megan Mansbridge, click the audio labelled: 14-year-old stranded by BC Ferries.