All Stanley Tromp wants is some basic shelter so passengers at the BC Ferries Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay terminals waiting to catch the bus can do so without getting blasted by the weather.
But so far in his six-month campaign, it looks like passengers will have to line up exposed to the elements for sometime yet.
“The thing is so cheap and easy, it’s astonishing that they haven’t done it,” said Tromp who lives in Vancouver and for 35 years has been making regular trips to Swartz Bay, where he’d also like to see such shelters. “It’s elementary decency to take care of people. The elderly … (will be) soaked in cold rain for 20 minutes, the effects on their health and so on, it’s so basic. It’s not rocket science.”
He’s proposing linear two-by-30-metre shelters at bus loading bays that will block out the sun’s rays.
He’d even settle for a temporary, tent-type structure, just to provide some shade.
Currently, there is some shelter for pedestrians, but it’s too small and not close to the bus stop, meaning anyone using that shelter could lose their place in line. The same goes for waiting inside the terminal.
Last month, Tromp wrote a letter to BC Ferries president Nicolas Jimenez, but he was asking the company about the shelters months prior.
Tromp said last December, he had to wait in the pouring rain with about 100 others for at least 20 minutes, in order to catch the bus.
He also asks why bus and ferry schedules are not better coordinated and why people can’t wait inside the bus while it’s awaiting its departure time. Tromp though was told by BC Ferries that stationary buses are closed to passengers in order to give drivers time for a break.
If other terminals have the same problem, they should also get shelters, he added.
He’s talked to several officials within BC Ferries but they keep passing the buck.
“They don’t want to deal with it. They don’t really care. They’d like to avoid it,” he said.
Tromp plans on launching an online petition and then presenting the results to Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming.
However, there may be some reason for optimism, though there are no firm plans.
BC Ferries public affairs executive director Deborah Marshall said the company is “exploring options,” for bus shelters at its major terminals.
