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Post by hwy19man on May 20, 2016 21:38:30 GMT -8
Is Fulford Harbour usually that busy on a Friday before a long weekend? Fulford Harbour itself on a Friday? Not usually. Swartz Bay-Fulford Harbour on a friday evening though, yes. There have even been cases in the past where Skeena has to do an unscheduled 10:30pm run from Swartz. Tomorrow morning and afternoon will also be busy with people flocking to and from the infamous Saturday market there as well. Vesuvius-Crofton also sees a similar boost in traffic, but rarely does it ever need to do any extra runs. The Skeena did an extra round trip this evening leaving SWB at 2215h and it was 75% full.
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Post by hwy19man on May 20, 2016 21:52:05 GMT -8
Route 1 from TSA was full at 2100h. The 2245h sailing from TSA is full for overheights and 65% full on underheights.
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Post by Dane on May 21, 2016 0:11:13 GMT -8
Given the usual crushes on Route 1, 2, 3, and 30 it wasn't as bad as it has been in the past. 30 was only really busy one way. I'm always curious why someone would wait Five hours for Rte30.
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Koastal Karl
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Post by Koastal Karl on May 23, 2016 16:16:20 GMT -8
Well I have seen on twitter that people have asked about the reservations and they say about 60% they usually take for reservations but looking at sailings out of Duke Point this afternoon most sailings look like 70% or more. Duke Point is a boring terminal to wait at for 5 hours. I would go to Departure Bay if it was less wait time!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2016 16:56:47 GMT -8
Out of Langdale, I've seen them "overbook" a sailing, in the sense of putting a higher percent online full than it actually is. After a sailing departs, the next one's fullness is cut back a bit. Still, there will be several unhapy campers if people are left in Langdale (or the Island for that matter) overnight. I'm glad I'm not travelling today...
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Post by Scott on May 23, 2016 17:47:32 GMT -8
This was on twitter about 45 minutes ago: I was on the 8:30 from Horseshoe Bay this morning which was relatively quiet. Came home with the family on the 3:10 which was packed to the gills. The first time I've been on the COASTAL RENNAISSANCE and it's felt crowded. Deck 7 was ok Ferry traffic was being diverted to Stewart Ave., but I did not see how far it was backed up. We were walk-ons. - John H
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Neil
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Post by Neil on May 23, 2016 21:22:58 GMT -8
And, as usual on holiday weekends, BC Ferries has done a lousy job of warning the public about possible overloads on their website. They were saying that traffic was likely to be 'busy' up to the 5:45 sailing from Duke Point today, when in fact the 8:15 and 10:45 have also overloaded. They were wrong at the beginning of the weekend as well, even though they know perfectly well from historical figures what the overload situation will be.
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Post by northwesterner on May 23, 2016 23:09:51 GMT -8
And, as usual on holiday weekends, BC Ferries has done a lousy job of warning the public about possible overloads on their website. They were saying that traffic was likely to be 'busy' up to the 5:45 sailing from Duke Point today, when in fact the 8:15 and 10:45 have also overloaded. They were wrong at the beginning of the weekend as well, even though they know perfectly well from historical figures what the overload situation will be. I'd forgotten it is the Victoria Day long weekend up north until they showed fireworks going off in Toronto on ESPN's CLE-TOR broadcast tonight.
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Koastal Karl
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Post by Koastal Karl on May 30, 2016 17:52:55 GMT -8
It is sold out from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen tonight just after 6:00pm. BC Ferries obviously knows it's Memorial Day weekend in the US but still they dont add any extra sailings in the evening. They are telling people on twitter there is still space available from Nanaimo like they think it's okay to send people on a 2 hour drive to another terminal when they have a boat sitting at Swartz Bay (Celebration) doing nothing. I really think they could of used a 4pm and 6pm and not just the morning early afternoon extra. It is a US holiday but I assume lots of people are up here.
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Post by Starsteward on May 31, 2016 6:10:16 GMT -8
It is sold out from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen tonight just after 6:00pm. BC Ferries obviously knows it's Memorial Day weekend in the US but still they dont add any extra sailings in the evening. They are telling people on twitter there is still space available from Nanaimo like they think it's okay to send people on a 2 hour drive to another terminal when they have a boat sitting at Swartz Bay (Celebration) doing nothing. I really think they could of used a 4pm and 6pm and not just the morning early afternoon extra. It is a US holiday but I assume lots of people are up here. Just another example of BC Ferries ineptness at maximizing profit opportunities. They're total stuck on the cut, cut, cut, business model! Abysmal
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Post by Dane on Jun 2, 2016 11:55:53 GMT -8
Currently there's a Service Notice for a thirty minute delay due to "Peak Demand" between Comox and Powell River. Isn't this an 80 minute crossing time with a 40 minute turn around time? Seems like a delay that shouldn't happen?
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Post by priver on Jun 2, 2016 15:11:44 GMT -8
It's around an hour 20 sailing time from little River to westview. They rarely have half hour to 20 min turnaround time on the Burnaby and if there's lots of over height traffic that time goes very fast
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Post by Dane on Jun 2, 2016 20:28:39 GMT -8
That makes sense. I was under the mistaken impression that every sailing had a two hour turn around and I see that isn't the case. It'll be interesting to see what boarding times are like on the new Salish ships with the split deck setup.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Jun 2, 2016 20:57:48 GMT -8
That makes sense. I was under the mistaken impression that every sailing had a two hour turn around and I see that isn't the case. It'll be interesting to see what boarding times are like on the new Salish ships with the split deck setup. Whenever I check, the ' Burnaby seems to be running 13-14.5 knots, which might make the crossing close to ninety minutes. Still... during daytime runs, they have a minimum twenty minutes to load and unload, and then they have a huge gap early afternoon, so I don't get why there would ever be delays. I've often thought that BC Ferries needs to learn something from WSF about how to expedite loading. Or maybe we just have some TC regs that slow things down.
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Koastal Karl
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Post by Koastal Karl on Jun 2, 2016 22:06:41 GMT -8
A few weeks ago on the Burnaby I did the 6:50pm Saturday night schedule which did take 90 mins arriving at 8:20pm so that it does not conflict with the NIP departing at 8:15pm! The sailings in the morning the next day were about 80 mins though!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 22:25:02 GMT -8
From what I've seen it's about eighty minutes Powell River-Comox and closer to ninety minutes Comox to Powell River, where a back out and back in is required...
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Post by northwesterner on Jun 3, 2016 18:18:51 GMT -8
The Nemetz lights and the associated procedure don't help the expediency of the loading/unloading procedure at BCF.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jun 3, 2016 18:57:21 GMT -8
The Nemetz lights and the associated procedure don't help the expediency of the loading/unloading procedure at BCF. True. A trivial legacy to a family destroyed back in 1992.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Jun 3, 2016 21:52:41 GMT -8
The Nemetz lights and the associated procedure don't help the expediency of the loading/unloading procedure at BCF. True. A trivial legacy to a family destroyed back in 1992. Refresh my memory... Nemetz lights? A family destroyed in 1992?
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jun 3, 2016 22:00:15 GMT -8
True. A trivial legacy to a family destroyed back in 1992. Refresh my memory... Nemetz lights? A family destroyed in 1992? August 1992, Departure Bay: Queen of New Westminster pulls away from berth while traffic is loading. Askew family minivan falls from upper ramp into water. 3 family members die. Justice Nemetz does inquiry. One of the recommendations is departure warning lights. Lights are nicknamed "Nemetz Lights"
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Mayne
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Post by Mayne on Jun 3, 2016 22:01:02 GMT -8
True. A trivial legacy to a family destroyed back in 1992. Refresh my memory... Nemetz lights? A family destroyed in 1992? Queen of New West leaving dock while still loading. The family from Albertas van plunged into the water, I can not remember if they all died or not.
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Post by Dane on Jun 3, 2016 22:20:41 GMT -8
Do the ships without overhead walkways and / or upper car decks have Nemetz lights?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2016 22:34:19 GMT -8
Do the ships without overhead walkways and / or upper car decks have Nemetz lights? Yep. Most boats have them. But the Bowen Queen (and possibly her sisters) don't. It's weird...
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Post by Dane on Jun 3, 2016 22:43:00 GMT -8
Interesting. I can see a value for them on any of the ferries, but if I recall correctly (and it has been a while) the purpose of the lights was actually for ships with more than one point of boarding to show crew members that vessel movement was imminent, one minute away, so that all traffic if still moving could be stopped.
But let's get to the real heart of the matter - they're sure convenient as a ferry fan to judge an appropriate standing location for departure.
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Post by northwesterner on Jun 4, 2016 15:34:57 GMT -8
The Nemetz lights and the associated procedure don't help the expediency of the loading/unloading procedure at BCF. True. A trivial legacy to a family destroyed back in 1992. I can't quite tell if the Low Light Mike response above is straight up or a slightly sarcastic response to my comment about the Nemetz lights. Regardless, I just want to expand a bit. As I've mentioned to some members on this list, after a lifetime of WSF rides, going up north the single most shocking thing to me about BCF's operation is the slowness with which they enter and depart the berth. I don't know what all the issues are. I believe that the berth design, in many cases, could be better. Some of them are optimized for a single ender, and yet no longer see that class of ferry on a regular basis. In other places, the ferries just don't "fit" well into the berth, and it takes quite a while for them to get squared up and ready to load and unload. An example of this is the berths at Langdale, which are parallel to the shoreline. This worked great for a singled ended vessel that had to back in, because it could approach head on, then take a 90 degree turn to line up with the berth and back in, using the long dock structure for guidance. The double enders that run the route now, have to make a wide deviation to line up with the berth. If they don't go deep enough into the turn, the vessel ends up nestled in the berth but the with the stern far away from the dock structure parallel to the shoreline, and spends quite a bit of time getting the stern swung around so the ramps can line up. This design is obviously suboptimal for the vessels operating there today and adds a lot of time to docking. Another thing that is striking is that the steps in the loading and unloading process at BCF are done in a sequential event order. Once A is complete, then B is started, when B is completed, then C can start, etc. If you watch the sequence at WSF, you'll notice a lot of processes occurring simultaneously, or along parallel paths. There is, somewhere, posted on this board, a video one of the members shot of a WSF vessel departing Mukilteo. The deckhands have already released the mooring lines as the last vehicle is still driving down the ramp, and as soon as the vehicle is on board, one deckhand starts putting up the nets while the other begins raising the ramp. Meanwhile, the terminal agent is putting down the arms on the ramp and closing the gate. The vessel departs the dock as soon as the ramp is up about a foot off the car deck, which these parallel processes are still occurring. The same sequence at BCFerries would see the arms on the ramp come down, then the mooring lines released, then the ramp come up, and then the vessel pull away, with each process completed before the next one begins. I'm not saying what BCF does is inherently wrong, or really that there is any problem with it. But undeniably it takes a lot more time. P.S. - I actually think the Nemetz lights are a very good solution to make sure everyone is on the same page given the officer in charge of the loading process may not be able to see all three embarkation points simultaneously to ensure that they are clear. But the process and procedure does take time.
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