I have heard less than complimentary remarks about the current survey about the ferry schedule. In hopes of encouraging the maximum possible participation by Bowen ferry users, I thought I’d explain the background.
BC Ferries is very dismayed at its poor on time performance (OTP) on the routes that serve Langdale and Bowen. Fewer than 70% of Langdale sailings are on time, the worst performance in the entire fleet. The Bowen run is almost as bad.
Their challenge is berth congestion at Horseshoe Bay. With a narrow entrance to the Bay, more runs than at Tsawwassen, and only three berths, there is little leeway in the system. If one ferry is late, it will likely delay others. And half of the dockings are the Queen of Capilano.
To address this, BC Ferries plans to introduce a revised, more forgiving, ‘spread’ schedule, with more time between sailings. They plan to achieve this by having the crews work 10 hour shifts instead of the current 8 hours. (This will have the advantage for BC Ferries of reducing overtime costs.) Make no mistake: a ‘spread’ schedule is coming. The survey is our chance to express our priorities and preferences.
In fact, several months ago, I was told that BC Ferries had a revised schedule ready to implement in June 2017: they brought it to the Ferry Advisory Committees as an information item. However, when we and the Sunshine Coast committee saw what was proposed, we protested in the strongest terms. So BC Ferries offered us a choice between implementation of that awful schedule and public consultation during the summer. We chose public consultation.
That is the back story. BC Ferries have engaged Context Research of Victoria to conduct the survey and to elicit views in other ways too. There was a focus group workshop on Bowen in May, and on June 20, 30 and July 1 they will be at HSB terminal conducting ‘intercept surveys’ with vehicle and foot passenger traffic waiting for the ferry. The survey is available online at bcferries.com/about/ontime-sc/.
Context Research have also supplied paper copies for anyone who does not use a computer at the Library, the General Store and the Muni. I’m grateful to all concerned for making the paper surveys available. Tina Nielsen, the Librarian, has also offered IT help to anyone who would like to complete the survey online at the Library.
More than 600 responses have been submitted from Bowen so far, a good amount for our population, but I am also aware that not everyone has seen the invitation to participate, and that others who have started the survey have been deterred by certain questions. Context Research have been receptive to feedback on these points and some of the directions in the survey have been revised.
What is BC Ferries trying to find out? In essence, they want to know the amount of flexibility users have in sailing times and the strength of feeling about keeping certain sailings where they are. For some of us, having a sailing at a particular time might be crucial for getting to work on time, for others, it is not going to make much difference whether it’s 10 minutes earlier or later: we can adapt. We already do adapt to the summer/winter schedule change, after all.
I hope that this background might encourage anyone who has not yet completed the survey to do so. Click here to access survey, it will run until July 5, 2017.
