B.C. Parks fee increase

Since the last half dozen years on both sides of the border, in the west that I am more familiar with, more and more of the campgrounds are being run by concessionaires. Most seem to do a good job, or at least aa good as the government agency that was running the campground. But the price to stay there has often doubled or tripled from what I remember paying in the past. One of the PP's campgrounds up in the Williams Lake country, jumped from something like $14cnd to around $35cnd a night.

Now this got me to conjuring on the subject, as they say down here in the swamp. is whether or not the government agency that was running the campground is still getting the money in their budget to operate the CG? If so and I suspect they are, they now have money to spend on other projects. The agency gets their regular budget amount to operate the campground, plus the fee paid to them by the concessionaire and the per cut of revenues collected by the concessionaire. This would turn a popular campground into a real cash cow for the government agency, with lots of dollars coming in and the concessionaire paying all the outgoing costs. So the taxpayers or that jurisdiction, that use the campground, end up paying twice. or more.

Would be fun to check on the operating budgets of some of the agencies to see if they get to keep the operating money when they turn a campground over to a private concern?

garyhaupt wrote:

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:


It appears to me that most of the parks are run by contractors, not BC Parks employees.

To my knowledge, that is the case in all of BC Parks.


Gary Haupt

And it most likely a major part of the reason why the fees have increased again this year: The contractors demanded, and got, a major increase in their contract pay, and now the BC Govt has to make up this difference.

Funny thing is, now Rathtrevor will be $35/night. I can camp at Whiskey Creek Campground (WCCG), which is a small and private site about 10 minutes from Parksville (west along highway 4), for about the same price. The difference? WCCG provides power (30 or 50Amp, though 50Amp is a separate bill) and water (though it is a well). The place is smaller so a lot less noise, and rarely is the place full, especially when we camp there. And most of the sites are grassy, have firepits and tables, and the washrooms are full flush. Not to mention the host/owner is friendly and we know her quite well.

Now, I do enjoy some of the PP campsites, but if the fees are going to keep increasing, I too will really evaluate whether I want to stay in them any more.

Cheers!
Mike

"
Funny thing is, now Rathtrevor will be $35/night. I can camp at Whiskey Creek Campground (WCCG), which is a small and private site about 10 minutes from Parksville (west along highway 4), for about the same price. The difference? WCCG provides power (30 or 50Amp, though 50Amp is a separate bill) and water (though it is a well). The place is smaller so a lot less noise, and rarely is the place full, especially when we camp there. And most of the sites are grassy, have firepits and tables, and the washrooms are full flush. Not to mention the host/owner is friendly and we know her quite well."

Actually, Rathtrevor will now cost $41/night from June 14 until Labour day! The sneaky thing in the costs is that you also require a $6.00 reservation fee between those dates!! So, Whiskey creek (& i'm sure other commercial ones)is by far the better.

BC_Explorer wrote:

tonymull wrote:
You're talking Provincial Parks. BC rec sites are still free as far as I can tell. I remember when they were 'serviced' and cost $8 a night. 'User Maintained' seems to work pretty well.

Many BC REC sites are not free. For example:

Mcculloch Reservoir

Greeny Lake North

As for the PP increase, it does not affect me that much as we only stated a total of 3 nights in a PP in the last 2 years and these stays were for a very specific reason. In general, the good thing about BC is that there are many free places to camp if you know where to look.

alot of these pay sites are run by community groups,which i have no problem supporting.i do have a problem paying for provincial park camping which i already support by tax dollars.at least they scrapped the parking fees though.

GaryKH wrote:
"
Funny thing is, now Rathtrevor will be $35/night. I can camp at Whiskey Creek Campground (WCCG), which is a small and private site about 10 minutes from Parksville (west along highway 4), for about the same price. The difference? WCCG provides power (30 or 50Amp, though 50Amp is a separate bill) and water (though it is a well). The place is smaller so a lot less noise, and rarely is the place full, especially when we camp there. And most of the sites are grassy, have firepits and tables, and the washrooms are full flush. Not to mention the host/owner is friendly and we know her quite well."

Actually, Rathtrevor will now cost $41/night from June 14 until Labour day! The sneaky thing in the costs is that you also require a $6.00 reservation fee between those dates!! So, Whiskey creek (& i'm sure other commercial ones)is by far the better.

Hmm, good point! I don't even know if my login for the Discover Camping site is even good anymore, that's how long it's been since I had to use it. I did stay at Rathtrevor this time last year (it was darn cold!) so didn't pay the reservation fee, in fact didn't even pay the full $33/night either! ;) And this is what gets my goat, too. The PP campgrounds should be LESS than the private campgrounds, even if only b/c the PP's only provide a flat pad with a table and firepit. Whereas the private places all have power, water, many have sewer, cable, etc (yes those are all separate fees but they do add up). I think the BC Gov't is going to end up pricing the PP campgrounds right out of "business" soon.

Cheers!
Mike