my understanding of the situation, from a relative that worked the boats during a  couple summer breaks, it's actually more common for the pilots to be drinking then not.

Doesn't surprise me - when they first started running the fast ferry to Dockyard, I took a trip up there and saw one of the people who was working the concession counter on the ferry (this was a while back) scurry over to what was then Pirates Landing to pick up some drinks while the ferry was on its 10 minute layover.  Based on the size of the plastic cups they were in, I doubted they were non-alcoholic.  In hindsight, I should have reported them but I had no proof the drinks contained alcohol and that one of them was for the pilot.  It would have been my word against theirs. 

To my undertstanding, standard protocol would have dictated that after such mishap, no passengers are allowed to board and one of the other (presumably sobre) crew pilot the boat back to Hamilton.  If it was a novice at the wheel, then they might have been understandably flustered.  But since it was the Cecil Smith, it's possible no one else on board was authorized to drive her.

In any case, the ferry made it back to Hamilton terminal without incident, met by the Marine Police who were waiting to escort our boy to the Police station for testing.  Rumours are flying that the alcohol content was four times the legal limit.

It comes to my attention that the Rockaway fast ferry crews are left to their own devices between the morning and afternoon runs (i.e. 9:15am until 4:10pm), which is when the period when the daily "festivities" are apt to get started.

..and he will NOT be fired from his job. WHY? Because his employer HAS to enroll him in a rehab class first. Then IF he re-offends you STILL cannot fire him, just move him to a less important roll. You can thank Union rules for that.

...this will be ANOTHER ferry incident swept under the carpet just like the last one in Dockyard. You haven't heard the REAL reason for THAT accident yet have you?

IMO - ALL PUBLIC VEHICLE drivers SHOULD be drug/alcohol tested ALONG with ALL ELECTED officials. If you force 12-13-14 year olds to MANDATORY alcohol / drug tests in Opti sailing for the world championships, then FORCE the above to testing as well.

Two words (that seem to fill up our newspapers these days):

Suspended sentence.

I noted in yesterday's RG article about the ferry pilot's court appearance (link unavailable at the moment) that his blood alcohol was in the low 200's.  But of much greater interest was that the article went on to say that ferry pilots have a different legal standard than roadway drivers - 100 vs. 80.  So for ferry pilots, our boy was slightly over two times the legal limit, but as a roadway driver, he would have been closer to three times the limit.

Anyone have some insight on the logic here?

.100 ... that is double the driving limit here.

I'm curious if anyone has any knowledge of the situation in other countries. Surely those driving/piloting public transport should be treated like airline pilots and have a zero reading? Even double a generous limit seems a lot and I hope that this is treated appropriately. It sounds like there may be a culture of drinking in charge of public transport and I hope that this is tackled before there is a worse incident.