Ferries Go a Gougin'

Tsawwassen, British Columbia
49°03' North; 123° 09' West

Let's say you're going on a trip and you're not a rich guy or an expense account-assisted businesswoman/politico/journo and you wanna save money.

What do you do?

First rule is to book early.

Because the earlier you make those reservations the cheaper that hotel room, rental car and airline ticket is going to be.

Which is as it should be because it also saves the hoteliers, the rental folks and the airlines scads of money as it allows them to plan their loads, inventories and schedules ahead of time.

So, if Davey 'Boy George' Hahn's 'Perfectly Private in Every Way' operation is so efficient, why do things work exactly the other way around on BC Ferries.

Specifically, if you book early on BC Ferries why do you pay an extra $17.50, up from $15 last week, each way.

This, together with never ending ticket price increases makes me wonder if a family of four will need to spend $200 to get to and from the Vancouver Island by the time 2010 rolls around.

Which I just realized is wishful thinking.

After all, I just spent $164 for a Vancouver- Victoria round trip during the recent Christmas holidays while travelling in our VW Bus (which, while it is not as Micro as Arlo's in Alice's Restaurant, is not oversized). And that was just for the fare (ie. before handing over another small pile of athlerosclerosis-stained cash to Peter Toigo's grease bucket operation in the cafeteria).

Guess it really is a Newly-Minted Era of the Neandercon in the greatest place to get screwed by the rich on earth.

And don't even get me started about the fiasco of fraudulosity in Boy George's parking lots.

Crap! Remember when we actually owned our own public assets - including those built by that noted left-wing commie-pinko Wacky Bennett?