Over the past few days I have been asked a number of questions about “what BC Ferries is doing to us now?” Some are specific to the impending reduction in service during the mid-life upgrade of the Queen of Capilano, and others are more general.
The general items first: BC Ferries recently announced the construction of three new intermediate-sized vessels (145 car capacity). These vessels will replace existing vessels (for example in the southern Gulf Islands). They will not be used on the Bowen run (they are too big) and, in any case, the Queen of Capilano, completed in 1991, is, by BC Ferries standards, a relatively modern vessel. By contrast, the Bowen Queen was built in 1965!
Another issue is whether or not BCFerries is actually achieving the savings that were supposed to drive the cutbacks. Neither BC Ferries nor the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has made any of this data public. This leaves one to wonder if the cuts have backfired: although traffic is approximately constant, it is masked by the seasonal upturn during the summer. Did the government really consider the economic and social effects of the cuts?
BCFerries said they were going to put in sufficient vehicle capacity during the four month mid-life upgrade for the Queen of Capilano, so that Bowen Island would not experience the type of congestion we had during the last refit in 2012 with the Bowen Queen.
Last month BC Ferries reneged on this agreement. BIMTAC has, over the past month, repeatedly demanded mitigation actions to reduce the inconvenience to Bowen Islanders during this period. We believe since BCFerries did, in fact, fail to deliver, and they should take responsibility for implementing these actions.
The objective of these requests is to make it easier for people not to have to take their cars on the ferry. If we are to have reasonably normal service during the refit period, BCFerries has to offer service improvements that will get people out of their cars. We expect these to include cheap parking in Horseshoe Bay, a through bus service, extra sailings and possibly lower fares on low traffic days of the weeks. We are also discussing improving foot passenger water taxi service to downtown Vancouver, but this will be harder to sell.
We also want to see improvements at the Horseshoe Bay terminal to improve the ticketing of Bowen foot passengers (particularly during the late afternoon) and a high occupancy vehicle assured loading system.
Improvements to the Queen of Capilano during the refit will include extra car capacity, through the installation of a partial gallery deck, direct loading into the passenger lounge at Horseshoe Bay, and better facilities for individuals with disabilities, parents with strollers, people with dogs, etc.
Over the next few weeks, all of these issues will have to be resolved. Our successes, and failures, will be reported here.
