Dear Editor,
So the bad news is in – we are getting the Bowen Queen for 6 months starting January 15th 2015. BC Ferries announced it at the BIMTAC public meeting held on Tuesday evening. The BC Ferries team headed by Corinne Storey owned up to the fact that they have seriously dropped the ball but seem very willing to consider all suggested ideas to help mitigate the commuter hell that is potentially looming 6 months from now. I think this is a great opportunity for the Bowen Island community to have a strong and influential voice at being able to suggest new ideas to help mitigate what will be a very frustrating time for Bowen Islanders. I think BC Ferries is willing to listen to any valid idea that is going to assist island residents in their daily travels off and on the island during this time.
They are currently searching for ideas on how to assist people to travel on as foot passengers during the refit time to try and decrease the inevitable morning and evening overloads caused by the smaller ferry and floated ideas such as more free day parking in the cove, discounted parking in the HSB, foot passenger ferry service to Vancouver, bus service from the island, additional sailings, guaranteed loading for carpooling. I would love to add a few more of my own: guaranteed translink bus connection in HSB, buy on Bowen incentives, incentives for using Stong’s delivery service and other food delivery services, further funding to Bowen Lift, incentives to use Car 2 Go, discounts if you are in a smart car and no charge for bikes/motorbikes. I am sure that the island has many more viable ideas that would reflect our different travel needs/destinations when we travel to the other side.
I think that we all realize that BC Ferries is facing some challenging times ahead and what this might mean for our Island Community in the long term. There is no doubt that the 6 months of refit is going to be a huge headache for us all but there is two potential silver linings. One is that we might be able to try out some new initiatives that just might improve all of our ferry travelling lives as well as improve our travelling options and not just during the refit but into the future. The second is that they are planning on attaching two gallery decks to the Queen of Capilano during the refit to increase the car capacity by 12 cars. So this is a call for great ideas and I am sure Corinne Storey head of BC customer service would be glad to receive them as well as BIMTAC.
Bowen Islanders for Ferry Fairness would really like to hear your contributions and comments in order to compile then to present to BC Ferries and get back to you with their responses. Please send to [email protected] or post on our Facebook page: BIFF: Bowen Islanders for Ferry Fairness.
Melanie Mason
Bowen Islanders for Ferry Fairness (BIFF)
