This weekend the long-awaited Final Report has been issued following the survey undertaken in May/June for the Ferry Advisory Committee by Vancouver Island University.
The exceutive summary of the report reads:
In the Fall of 2008, the Gabriola Ferries Advisory Committee approached the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Vancouver Island University to conduct a survey to determine which transportation alternatives the residents of Gabriola Island wish to have investigated further.
BC Ferries contributed $5000 to cover hard costs of the survey process such as printing and mailing, and to pay for the costs of student labour. Faculty members from the Departments of Geography (Pam Shaw) and Sociology (Linda Derksen, Jerry Hinbest) donated their time, and a recent VIU graduate acted as the Project Coordinator (Katelin Bowes).
In mid-May 2009 we sent 548 surveys to a systematic random sample of households listed in the 2009 Gabriola Community Directory. At the end of May, postcards reminding respondents to return their surveys were sent to each household. Two hundred and ninety-two valid surveys were returned, resulting in an overall response rate of 53.3%. This response rate is high enough that survey results can be considered to be representative of the population of Gabriola, within a margin of error of approximately 6% (95% confidence limits).
Respondents‟ top priorities for further investigation are first, integration of the ferry with the regional transit system (61.3% agree), second, a larger ferry with greater capacity (49% agree/strongly agree); and third, no change – the ferry should continue to operate "as is‟ and "where is‟ (38%).
The majority of respondents, approximately 65% do not support further investigation into a fixed-link crossing (a bridge) of any kind. However, about 1/3 of respondents would like to see further investigation into either a no charge or toll bridge. Respondents are virtually unanimous in rejecting all options for further investigation into crossings of any kind to Duke Point.
Additionally, respondents do not wish to see further investigation into passenger only crossings (62.7% disagree); fewer crossings on the current route (75.7% disagree) or into smaller vessels (63.4% disagree).
Respondents to the survey were provided with many opportunities to write open-ended comments. The majority of respondents took advantage of this opportunity and provided very useful information which is integrated throughout the report.
A copy of the full report can be downloaded here
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