Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,182
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Post by Neil on Jun 1, 2018 18:42:48 GMT -8
Queen of Alberni cancelling the 3:15/5:45 Due to refuelling... on a busy Friday afternoon. Service notice says she missed refuelling last night due to a stalled truck. Do vessels not carry enough fuel to safely run for at least a few days? From my time working at Tsawassen I know she doesn't take a truck load every night, but more than every 2nd night. Even if it's been 2 days I would expect them to have enough... (I guess if the C's have such a low fuel capacity there won't be any Poland trips in their future haha) (yes I know there's no plans for that! ) I was wondering why the ' Alberni was sitting there idle when we arrived from Duke Point this afternoon. On an unrelated note... I was surprised to see deck crew on the ' Inspiration actually pulling cars up close behind each other. Haven't seen that on route 30- other than with the last few loaded- in I don't know how many years. Asked a crewperson, and she said it will probably be more common as that route is getting busier. Very good idea- there is a lot of space wasted by people protecting some sort of sacred zone around their precious vehicles. Can't have somebody's pantcuffs scraping your Porsche's bumper as they walk past.
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Post by Brandon S on Jun 19, 2018 19:12:22 GMT -8
Vessel Change Fulford (Salt Spring Island) – Swartz Bay (Victoria) MV Skeena Queen June 26, 2018
On Tuesday, June 26 the MV Skeena Queen will be removed from service for mechanical installation of a right angle drive. The MV Salish Raven will commence service on the Fulford Harbour – Swartz Bay route as of the first scheduled sailing at 6:15 am.
The MV Skeena Queen will return to the Fulford - Swartz Bay route on Wednesday, June 27 as of the 6:15 am sailing from Fulford Harbour.
For more information or traffic updates please follow @bcferries on Twitter, visit our website at bcferries.com, or call us toll free at 1-888-BCFERRY (223-3779).
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Post by Nickfro on Jun 22, 2018 9:05:58 GMT -8
The Coastal Inspiration's return to service has been delayed, resulting in Route 2 getting the shaft with only 2 boats starting Saturday June 23 until at least June 30. Link to article HERE.
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Post by terrybc on Jun 24, 2018 13:02:27 GMT -8
This is a bad call on BCF part. I think the Coquitlam should've been pulled from Langdale & deployed to HSB-Dep Bay as it is more busier. Other option would be to move the New West over to TSW- Duke Pt freeing up the Renaissance to be deployed to HSB-Dep Bay. Furthermore I don't like the way BCF handled the part of cancelling my reservation without phoning me to advise me of my sailing cancellation on Thursday. Instead at 425pm Friday I got a automated voice message stating that my sailing has been cancelled. The least they could've done was to phone me directly advising me that my sailing is cancelled & give me the option of rebooking on the sailing prior or after or a sailing of my choice. In the meantime all sailings from HSB-Dep Bay are sold out due to the long weekend ahead.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jun 24, 2018 13:50:27 GMT -8
This is a bad call on BCF part. I think the Coquitlam should've been pulled from Langdale & deployed to HSB-Dep Bay as it is more busier. Other option would be to move the New West over to TSW- Duke Pt freeing up the Renaissance to be deployed to HSB-Dep Bay. Furthermore I don't like the way BCF handled the part of cancelling my reservation without phoning me to advise me of my sailing cancellation on Thursday. Instead at 425pm Friday I got a automated voice message stating that my sailing has been cancelled. The least they could've done was to phone me directly advising me that my sailing is cancelled & give me the option of rebooking on the sailing prior or after or a sailing of my choice. In the meantime all sailings from HSB-Dep Bay are sold out due to the long weekend ahead. Agreed, looking at todays current conditions page it seems that route 2 need the extra ship a lot more than route 3. I’m not sure why they can’t continue to split the Coquitlam between routes 2 and 3 like they do in shoulder season. Crew it out of Langdale so it doesn’t screw up the crewing schedules too much. That way it can do an extra morning commuter run from Langdale, then a round trip or two to Departure Bay and pick up the overload for the Langdale evening commute. They might not like it, but Langdale can probably survive another week without full-time 2 boat service.
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Post by terrybc on Jun 24, 2018 14:14:38 GMT -8
Currently Dep Bay has a 3 sailing wait. If someone was to show up now without a reservation earliest sailing available would be 1010 this evening. Duke Point currently a 2 sailing wait. Looking at HSB Lang 315 36% Full, 330 Lang-HSB 685 full. Obviously the loads aren't as heavy vs Dep Bay & Duke Point. Obviously someone who organizes vessel deployments needs to wake up! I can just see what Thursday & Friday are going to be looking like out of HSB-Dep Bay worse then today as we are going into a long weekend.
Futureferrydriver you bring up some good points in your thread.
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Post by northwesterner on Jun 24, 2018 15:11:20 GMT -8
Instead at 425pm Friday I got a automated voice message stating that my sailing has been cancelled. The least they could've done was to phone me directly advising me that my sailing is cancelled & give me the option of rebooking on the sailing prior or after or a sailing of my choice. What is the staffing level in the call center required such that all reservations can receive an individual phone call when a sailing has cancelled?
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Post by terrybc on Jun 24, 2018 18:55:58 GMT -8
It would be a little courteous. If I was on other modes of transportation & say Air Canada cancelled my flight they would have the courtesy to call & say your flight has been cancelled you need to re book. Speaking of call centers a friend of mine works for VIA Rail in the Moncton NB Reservation office. They call people directly to inform them if the train they are booked on is delayed substantially or if a train is cancelled due to some unforeseen circumstances. They don't just leave a automated message to say your train is delayed or cancelled.
In the long term it's all about customer service.
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Post by northwesterner on Jun 24, 2018 18:59:22 GMT -8
It would be a little courteous. If I was on other modes of transportation & say Air Canada cancelled my flight they would have the courtesy to call & say your flight has been cancelled you need to re book. I haven't had an airline make a personal call to advise of a flight cancellation, well, ever. Text - yes Email - yes App Push Notification - yes Automated Call - yes Personal call, nope. Like BC Ferries, the airlines don't have their call center staffed for such things.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jun 29, 2018 14:45:56 GMT -8
No service notice yet, but current conditions has the Coq. doing a 7:30pm sailing from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. No return trip posted so I assume it will dead head back and return to route 3.
Langdale has been quiet today so this seems like a good call on their part.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,182
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Post by Neil on Jun 29, 2018 20:05:19 GMT -8
I guess they'll take the extra service, but they'll probably be thinking... "can't this thing go any faster?"
No, she can't. Quinitsa is doing a direct run to Saturna on Sunday, but rather than the usual 70-75 minutes islanders are used to, it will be 1:55. That's what 9.5 knots gets you. And I think 9.5 is a very best case scenario.
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Post by WettCoast on Jul 1, 2018 19:14:18 GMT -8
Apparently, the NorAd is having "issues" again Its 'high summer' & the fleet is down two vessels; two of the newer vessels ...
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,182
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Post by Neil on Jul 2, 2018 15:02:57 GMT -8
A sign of growing traffic, and vessels that are too small...
BC Ferries has put out a service notice asking that Cortes residents refrain from leaving vehicles in line for the next morning's first ferry until the final, 5:50 ferry has departed Whaletown. Hornby people also line up in the evening for the next day's first ferry, since many have medical appointments or other important business off island that they need to get to. This happens year round. A sign of the times, and an indication that the ferry system is woefully in need of renewal on the so-called 'minor' routes.
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Post by WettCoast on Jul 2, 2018 16:36:44 GMT -8
A sign of growing traffic, and vessels that are too small... BC Ferries has put out a service notice asking that Cortes residents refrain from leaving vehicles in line for the next morning's first ferry until the final, 5:50 ferry has departed Whaletown. Hornby people also line up in the evening for the next day's first ferry, since many have medical appointments or other important business off island that they need to get to. This happens year round. A sign of the times, and an indication that the ferry system is woefully in need of renewal on the so-called 'minor' routes. Just more indication that the pseudo-private model for the coastal ferry service bequeathed to us by the BC Liberals is failing coastal communities.
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Post by hwy19man on Jul 8, 2018 14:06:18 GMT -8
The Queen of New Westminster is out of service on route 1 for the entire day due to a controllable pitch propeller.
"If necessary, we will make an additional round trip at the end of the day. At this point, we are not sure which vessel will do this trip, but we will keep you posted as this information becomes available."
www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=3910
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Post by hwy19man on Jul 9, 2018 0:42:42 GMT -8
It is a late night for the SOVI as it is doing an extra round trip, leaving SWB at 2335h and TSA at 125h.
"Please be advised that the Spirit of Vancouver Island is currently operating 35 minutes behind schedule."www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=3917______________________________________ The NW will be out of service a bit longer. This release is a lengthy one with several paragraphs."Unfortunately, the issue with one of the Queen of New Westminster's controllable pitch propellers continues and we have cancelled its first round trip sailing on Monday, July 9, in addition to sailing cancellations previously announced today. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience experienced as a result of these cancellations."
"Our technicians and engineers continue to work very hard to fix the issue. Earlier in the day, we exchanged out components of the starboard propeller system. We took the vessel for sea trials but unfortunately that repair did not solve the issue. We have assembled a dive team tonight to inspect the vessel underwater. At each stage we need to trial the vessel at sea to fully determine if the repairs were successful. This will take several hours and, while we continue to systematically troubleshoot the problem, we will let you know as soon as more information becomes available." www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=3912
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jul 9, 2018 12:16:33 GMT -8
I have say BC Ferries is handling boat breaks downs in reasonable way by adding late nights trips for some ferries. I think the BC Ferries should build another major vessel just in case more breaks downs happen in future.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 9, 2018 12:41:35 GMT -8
I have say BC Ferries is handling boat breaks downs in reasonable way by adding late nights trips for some ferries. I think the BC Ferries should build another major vessel just in case more breaks downs happen in future. The idea of “an extra ship in case of breakdowns” has been tossed around a lot lately, but in reality I think that would be a bad move. If there was another major ship available right now I am all but certain it wouldn’t be an extra ‘break downs’ ship; I expect it would become a number 3 ship on route 30, or perhaps a ship that could be shared between routes 2 and 30 or 1 and 30. In the summer months all 3 of these routes could benefit from additional capacity. Also, having an extra ship sitting around on standby (ie. ready to go within an hour or two) is hugely expensive. There wouldn’t be much point in having an extra ship laid up at FMU (ie. 2-3 days to get it into service) because mechanical difficulties rarely lead to cancelled sailings lasting more than a day.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jul 9, 2018 13:36:20 GMT -8
I have say BC Ferries is handling boat breaks downs in reasonable way by adding late nights trips for some ferries. I think the BC Ferries should build another major vessel just in case more breaks downs happen in future. The idea of “an extra ship in case of breakdowns” has been tossed around a lot lately, but in reality I think that would be a bad move. If there was another major ship available right now I am all but certain it wouldn’t be an extra ‘break downs’ ship; I expect it would become a number 3 ship on route 30, or perhaps a ship that could be shared between routes 2 and 30 or 1 and 30. In the summer months all 3 of these routes could benefit from additional capacity. Also, having an extra ship sitting around on standby (ie. ready to go within an hour or two) is hugely expensive. There wouldn’t be much point in having an extra ship laid up at FMU (ie. 2-3 days to get it into service) because mechanical difficulties rarely lead to cancelled sailings lasting more than a day. But the vessel could shifted to fill in the vessel that broke down because the third vessel on route 2 could provide service on route 2 and 3 while vessels replace main vessel on route 2, 3, 30 or any vessel on route 1.
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dave2
Chief Steward
Deckhand!: Todo: Introduction post (I was born less than 100 feet from the ocean. The tide was...)
Posts: 155
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Post by dave2 on Jul 9, 2018 20:18:25 GMT -8
The idea of “an extra ship in case of breakdowns” has been tossed around a lot lately, but in reality I think that would be a bad move. If there was another major ship available right now I am all but certain it wouldn’t be an extra ‘break downs’ ship; I expect it would become a number 3 ship on route 30, or perhaps a ship that could be shared between routes 2 and 30 or 1 and 30. In the summer months all 3 of these routes could benefit from additional capacity. Also, having an extra ship sitting around on standby (ie. ready to go within an hour or two) is hugely expensive. There wouldn’t be much point in having an extra ship laid up at FMU (ie. 2-3 days to get it into service) because mechanical difficulties rarely lead to cancelled sailings lasting more than a day. But the vessel could shifted to fill in the vessel that broke down because the third vessel on route 2 could provide service on route 2 and 3 while vessels replace main vessel on route 2, 3, 30 or any vessel on route 1. True,but it would still cause interruptions to the schedule leading to cancelled reservations. You can't please all of the people...
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jul 9, 2018 20:53:32 GMT -8
But the vessel could shifted to fill in the vessel that broke down because the third vessel on route 2 could provide service on route 2 and 3 while vessels replace main vessel on route 2, 3, 30 or any vessel on route 1. True,but it would still cause interruptions to the schedule leading to cancelled reservations. You can't please all of the people... I would make added sailing non-reservable just in case the vessel needs to be send to another route.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jul 11, 2018 22:31:03 GMT -8
Queen of Alberni has cancelled her final round trip today and first round trip due engine having exhaust leak. The Queen of New Westminster will add a round trip tonight to make for lost of Queen of Alberni.www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=3931
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Post by hwy19man on Jul 15, 2018 0:26:29 GMT -8
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Post by hwy19man on Jul 21, 2018 14:03:31 GMT -8
Queen of New Westminster delayed by 56 minutes due to a medical emergency. www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=3964The NW left SWB at 1242h and arrived at TSA at 1400h, 78 minute crossing! The SBC left 23 minutes later and did it in 85 minutes.The Renaissance is 45 minutes behind schedule due to a leak from a RV.www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=4026There was no service notice for the Queen of Cowichan but the reason for being behind schedule were delays with catering supplies. The Mayne Queen had sewage removal delays. I have never seen those reasons posted before on the current conditions page.
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Post by hwy19man on Aug 23, 2018 12:13:02 GMT -8
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