To the Editor,
It is rare that we have good news to report in the transportation area here on Bowen Island, but we do need to note that the West Vancouver Transit Blue Bus system does deserve our compliments. On Monday, April 7, the 5:25p.m. #257 bus broke down and did not arrive, leaving a number of Bowen Islanders wondering whether or not they would meet the 6:30p.m. ferry to Bowen and thus the 7p.m. Bowen Island bus home. Given that the 7p.m. bus is the last run of the day, this could have caused a great deal of inconvenience.
However a phone call to the Blue Bus dispatcher yielded results. When the next #257 bus arrived at Park Royal we were told that a special relief bus was waiting for us that would take us to Horseshoe Bay in time for the 6:30 ferry. We got there on time, and thus back to hearth and home on Bowen. The driver was duly applauded, and our thanks are due to the entire Blue Bus system for responding to our request.
But there is, of course a dark side: BC Ferries does not make allowances for late buses (the 10 minute rule) nor does it make any attempt to integrate it’s schedule with the bus system, which, arguably, has many more arrivals and departures than the ferry system. Complicating schedule integration is BC Ferries frequent schedule changes - there will be six changes of schedule between March 31st, 2014 and March 31st, 2015. Many of these changes are small and well within the margin of error within which most ferry sailings operate, but enough to make linking bus and ferry travel a matter of some difficulty.
At the same time TransLink (which sets the schedule for the #257 buses) makes no attempt to integrate the Blue Bus system with most of the arrivals and departures of the Bowen ferry (there are exceptions). Rather, the schedule is geared to the arrivals and departures of the Langdale and Nanaimo ferries, even though these communities are not members of TransLink, nor do they pay taxes to TransLink.
We must be thankful that our neighbours in West Vancouver do try to help out with our transportation difficulties. In the meantime we on Bowen have to keep up the pressure on our transportation providers to provide a seamless and affordable system.
Adam Holbrook, Chair of the Bowen Island Municipality Transportation Advisory Committee
