Members of the Bowen Island Municipality Transportation Advisory Committee (BIMTAC) met with BC Ferries (BCF) officials on Friday, March 13 (by telephone) for a briefing on the progress of the Queen of Capilano mid-life upgrade (MLU). The good news is that the MLU is on schedule, and the Capilano is expected to return to service on schedule on May 6th, with an additional 15 car spaces through the construction of gallery decks, a direct loading port for foot passengers to the lounge deck for use at HSB, a covered pet waiting area, and a number of other customer service improvements. Complete details about the upgrade can be found on the BCF website.
A number of mitigation efforts were put in place at the start of the MLU to meet the expected increase in overloads forecasted by BIMTAC. Statistics released by BC Ferries show that the number of overloaded sailings has drastically increased, from 36 in the Jan-Feb period in 2014 to 272 during the same period in 2015. Specifically the number of cars delayed by one sailing increased from 174, in Jan-Feb. 2014, to 3589 in Jan.-Feb. 2015. No cars were overloaded for more than one sailing. Exact figures, supplied by BCF, are available on the BIM website. as part of the March 17th BIMTAC agenda.
Figures released show that the worst period for overloads is Tuesday mornings from Snug Cove and Thursday afternoons from HSB where there is a 100% possibility of the sailing being overloaded on the 4:30, 5:30 and 6:30 sailings from HSB.
Some of the mitigation measures have been successful. The through-bus service to downtown Vancouver has great ridership. The medical assured loading system appears to be working well (and will be continued after the MLU). But BIMTAC and BC Ferries would like to raise awareness about other measures that have not had as much public uptake, likely due to lack of awareness of the programs by ferry users:
- Assured High Occupancy Vehicle loading. Individuals with four or more people in their vehicle can claim assured loading at HSB, if they arrive at least 20 minutes before sailing time, and make their request known to the customer service agent.
- Extra lunch-time sailings on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 1:00 pm from HSB and 1:30 pm from Snug Cove. If you are able to modify your travel times take advantage of these underutilized sailings.
- 9:30 am sailing on Sunday has been restored for the duration of the MLU
- Half-price parking at HSB for both daily and monthly Bowen parkers
