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Post by futureferrydriver on May 17, 2019 6:54:51 GMT -8
I am trying to find out protocol if I happen to arrive late in evening at Horseshoe Bay Ferry terminal. I will be driving truck towing a large travel trailer. Do you just park at toll booths until they open the next morning? Google Maps does not show anything that would work as parking. Thanks, any advice is welcome Rob Yeah, they leave the signs on above the lanes so you know which lane to go into, and then they set up a line of cones (antiparallel to the lanes) a few hundred feet back from the ticket booths. Just pull up to the line of cones in the correct lane and you can park and sleep there. Set an alarm for like 45 minutes before the first sailing of the day, or the traffic controllers will just tap your window for a wake up when it's time! EDIT: With an oversize vehicle you'll want to be parked in lane 1 on the far left (the other booths are too narrow for trucks).
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Post by futureferrydriver on May 13, 2019 6:16:31 GMT -8
I am pretty sure you don’t need a boarding pass at Pender! I have boarded the Vancouver ferry there numerous times they never collect boarding passes at Otter Bay for some reason. They do NOT collect boarding passes for sailings to Victoria from Otter Bay. The ticket booth does give boarding passes for sailings to Tsawwassen, but most of the time the route 9 crew never bothers to collect them... (I’m fairly sure this is always the case, I’ve been to Pender about a dozen times and this is always been the case departing either way)
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Post by futureferrydriver on May 13, 2019 6:08:54 GMT -8
My daughter went back to the mainland from Departure Bay as a foot passenger yesterday, and she mentioned to me that during boarding, there was a receptacle for people to put their boarding passes in, but no one who really seemed to be checking that everyone was doing that. Is this normal for Departure Bay? I know that at Tsawwassen, someone takes your pass by hand. Theres only one place to go from Departure Bay, so theres no need to check the ticket for destination. Its faster and easier to have them place it in a bin. Plus, even when its busy it only takes one person to watch people (make sure they put a ticket in the bin) vs. usually takes two people to properly collect tickets. I believe Duke Point (again only one destination) operates the same way. Edit. Usually when I go the person operating the walkway is the guy monitoring for tickets, so thats one guy doing walkway and tickets vs. one guy for the walkway and two ticket collectors at SWB, TSA and HSB. I’m sure it would be easy to cheat this system, but most people are honest and the loss of a few cheaters is likely outweighed massivley but having two less terminal attendants.
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Post by futureferrydriver on May 13, 2019 5:34:52 GMT -8
The repairs look pretty much complete on the SoBC and the scaffolding has been removed. They also had the engines running yesterday afternoon around 5pm, so perhaps she was taken out for little jaunt about the straight? Regardless, it looks pretty much guranteed (BCF must be very thankful) that BCF will have full service restored for the long weekend!
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Post by futureferrydriver on May 1, 2019 11:47:38 GMT -8
I came across this photo on Snapchat today of the Spirit of BC undergoing repairs. Based on the repairs being undertaken, the damage looks somewhat more severe than I had imagined... This is not my photo; I am merely sharing it from the (anonymous) person who posted the clip on Snapchat maps...
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Post by futureferrydriver on Apr 30, 2019 18:08:43 GMT -8
I had an idea since I will be traveling in Europe this summer - foreign ferries! I'm sure many of you may have some interesting shots that could grace our masthead. This would be held later in the year. Thoughts anyone??? I like this idea, as long as it is for month after August! I will be in Greece this summer doing some island hopping and we're very excited to have the Blue Star Ferries experience. I'm sure I will return with lots of photos.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Apr 20, 2019 10:27:20 GMT -8
And in typical CTV News fashion the article ends with a picture of the Queen of New West (with the name CLEARLY visible I might add) captioned “The Coastal Celebration is one of the three BC Ferries ships [that will be serving beer].” In general Vancouver television media does a horrible job at covering anything relating to maritime activity. In this particular case, someone should get a kick in the butt and told to do their jobs with a little bit of accuracy and maybe even some pride! I’m sure I sound like a jerk complaining about little stuff like that but its irritating and it happens all the time; maritime stuff especially, but also airport/plane stuff is really bad. Its unfortunate because these people are supposed to be professionals. Its hard to take any of this stuff seriously when they don’t bother to put in the effort on the small things.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Apr 19, 2019 15:03:06 GMT -8
And in typical CTV News fashion the article ends with a picture of the Queen of New West (with the name CLEARLY visible I might add) captioned “The Coastal Celebration is one of the three BC Ferries ships [that will be serving beer].”
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Post by futureferrydriver on Apr 18, 2019 21:50:09 GMT -8
Not a service notice per se, but somewhat unusually the Queen of Capilano is doing a late night trip to Langdale (2259 departure) to deal with the Coquitlam’s overload. A nice gesture for the Langdalians who are getting screwed by the Surrey being gone...
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Post by futureferrydriver on Apr 14, 2019 19:14:57 GMT -8
just to inform my fellow ferry fans the mighty kahloke is on the mill bay to Brentwood bay replacing the klitsa currently and from now on the kahloke will replace the klitsa when she's in refit Do you happen to know which ship is replacing the Kahloke on the Hornby route during the Klitsa refit?
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Post by futureferrydriver on Apr 11, 2019 19:21:50 GMT -8
I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I almost exclusively travel on route 1 or minor routes so I haven't been on a C class since the new car deck rules came into effect...
The C class ships were all listed on the page describing which vessels are affected by the new rules, which I didn't give much thought to until recently when I was looking at pictures of the Alberni.
So the question then; how does BCF (and more importably Transport Canada) justify calling lower vehicle decks on the C class ships "closed"? My understanding of the rule was that it was imposed for emergencies when the ship needs to be evacuated, because it would be hard to get people off the vehicle decks quickly and safely. That makes total sense on the Spirits/Coastals/QoNW. With this in mind I figured that they allow people to stay on the upper car deck because it is open to the air (so in theory if the ship was being evacuated people could jump out easily?). If this is in fact the logic behind the rule then surely this should apply to the lower decks on the C class ships? Is there something I'm missing here or is enforcing the rule on the C's just a matter of consistency across the fleet?
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Post by futureferrydriver on Apr 10, 2019 11:37:48 GMT -8
I'd just heard on the Celebration that they're expecting her at Swartz Bay on the 17th and in service very shortly thereafter. Yes. BC Ferries reservation page shows her entering into service on the 18th with a 8am departure from Swartz Bay. And with that fantastic news I'll have to pay $5 to change my reservation from the 5pm to the 4pm departing SWB so I can travel on favourite ferry again!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Mar 29, 2019 14:56:50 GMT -8
Over the past couple months, I've been working on a personal hobby project of photographing the various bridges and trestles on the inactive sections of the E&N railway on Vancouver Island. This is an awesome little project Mike! Thanks for sharing these pictures with us. I’ve always thought it would be a fun trip to start in Victoria somewhere and follow the tracks as far as I could go in a two or three day overnight trip (camping) and see all the trestles and tunnels. Of course I doubt I’d get farther than Duncan within 3 days, but it would be an interesting trip. Perhaps one day when I have a more flexible work schedule... For now the pictures you shared will have to satisfy my curiosity about the E&N railway.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Mar 29, 2019 8:52:40 GMT -8
yes, very helpful and very timely (ive just been shortlisted for an interview). thank-you for the quick reply!! pop quiz: 1. terminal attendants = vehicle loading, driving the luggage carts, operating walk-on gangways, collecting foot passenger tickets? 2. customer service attendants = all f&b (front of house) on the ship? (including cashiers?) 3. how come $: foot passenger ticket agent > terminal attendants > customer service attendants? 4. ? ? ? = guys driving the drop service trailers 5. why no more working for bcfc? bonus: i have significant experience in the transportation industry. my prior job has many similarities to the duties in the tower. how are those jobs staffed? does transport canada have a say like they do in the harbour master jobs downtown? or is this all kept in house? whats the career path towards this end goal? i imagine its quite difficult. Good luck on your interview! 1. Terminal attendants are responsible for directing traffic onto and off of the ships, cleaning the terminal (garbages, bathrooms etc), collecting tickets, all the baggage stuff, jump starts, traffic control, taking stuff onto and off of the ship, wheelchair push ons/offs etc. The operation of the ramps is terminal attendants but you need a special ticket (Equipment operator) so you wouldn't do that as a seasonal (have to work there for a year and be casual to be eligible for the training) 2. there are two types of Customer service attendant, shore and ship based. I dunno anything about ship based but I'm 90% sure its cashiers and everything else on the ship that isn't strictly operations or directly cooking. On the shore CSA's work in the office and take phone calls, answer questions and resolve complaints (escalating to manager if needed) they deal with lost and found and other general admin stuff. 3. ticket agents deal with money, so there's the whole robbery risk thing so the extra pay is kind of hazard pay (its a union thing). Vehicle booth ticket agents get even more because the danger of being with cars... (seasonals are hired as FPTA (foot passenger ticket agents), but you end up working both and get paid a bit more when you're in the car booths. 4. Drop trailers is a mystery to me. I'm 99% sure they are BCF employees, but I don't know if they are in the same union as operations employees. I think they are hired centrally by "drop trailer services" and are generally unassociated with the terminal people. 5. Two reasons: 1) I'm going to be working a research job at UVic this summer as part of finishing my undergrad, so obviously can't do both. 2) I want to not be on call everyday, if the research job thing didn't work out plan B was to work at the airport. After 3 years of not having a life and being glued to my phone I didn't want to do that anymore. Bonus. Tower jobs are all in house, as far as I know there is no TC stuff associated to that. The tower doesn't control ship traffic at all, just sort out making sure all the cars go to the right lanes and telling the terminal attendants which lanes to load. The most the tower talks to the ships is just the ship phones in with their ETA and then after loading the tower gives them a passenger count. There are 6 regular tower positions at SWB (2 people per watch, 3 watches) so its really hard to get in. There are maybe half a dozen of the senior terminal attendants that are trained as relief tower operators (for when regulars want time off or on busy days they staff an extra person up there). These guys are pretty much waiting for someone to retire so they can move up to the regular position. In conclusion its REALLY hard to get into a tower job, but its possible to get trained as relief if you've worked as a Term Att for long enough (we're talking like 10 years though).
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Post by futureferrydriver on Mar 24, 2019 19:41:50 GMT -8
hi all... a lot of good information here, but the bulk of the meaty usefull stuff was posted ~2008. two quick questions please... 1. seasonals are gauranteed 15 working days per month May-Oct. TRUE/FALSE? (updated 2018: min 40 x 4.5hrs May-Oct. TRUE/FALSE?) 2. is there a system in place like a spareboard to organise crew calling sequences? (think flight attendants) thnx! (if you are curious, i would love to work for the corp, but i am concerned about my ability to pay monthly bills) Disclaimer, I only really know about Swartz Bay and Horseshoe Bay, and this is only based on my own personal experience. 1. Yes, as of last summer there was a minimum of 40 working days** guaranteed to seasonals over the period from May 1st to Labour Day. Working day here meaning minimum of 4.5 hours, although 7.5 is a normal day and it was pretty uncommon to work the short shift (usually only one a day and they're quite popular with the regular employees so if you want to work the full 7.5 its usually easy to). I DO NOT know if this will be in effect again this summer, but I have no reason to believe it won't be. 2. The whole crew scheduling thing is kind of a disaster at BCF, but they claim there is some fairness to it. I've been told countless different stories about how the call in list works, but the whole thing is pretty much shrouded in mystery to the "regular" employees. That said, in my 3 summers working there its always been fairly balanced between myself and the other seasonals and (during the May - labour day period) I was working a ton. Conclusion (based on my experience as a seasonal ticket agent and terminal attendant at Swartz and Horseshoe Bay): If you're working in the summer you'll get lots of work and the money is good, money shouldn't be your biggest concern with working there. Its a tough lifestyle to be tied to your phone all the time, they expect you on call pretty much all day everyday and its tough to get a day confirmed off. That makes it nearly impossible to get away for an overnight trip, and it's difficult to even do any sort of day trips. As a huge ferry lover it was worth it to live with the bad crew scheduling because I loved what I did working there and it was super cool to learn how it all worked, but after 3 years I got pretty fed up with the no days off lifestyle. From what I've heard from colleagues at Swartz Bay, its easy to get converted to casual and stay on past the end of summer, but you likely will not be working full time (sounds like 10-15 days a month is a decent benchmark for junior casual employees in the off season). But with the way crew scheduling is done it would be tough to work a part time job as well, so I imagine it would be hard to make ends meet in the winter. Hope this was helpful!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Dec 3, 2018 8:48:47 GMT -8
My guess is that the Cumberland would replace the Capilano, allowing a Salish ship to replace the Cumberland on Route 5. Or Island Sky to Bowen, and a Salish Ship replaces the Sky on Jervis Inlet. From the bellyaching I read in my Google feed this afternoon, the residents of Bowen Island may want a Salish class! I can already hear them complaining about being loaded on the lower deck and having to leave their cars for the 20 minute crossing! Not to mention getting off last...
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Post by futureferrydriver on Oct 30, 2018 11:39:26 GMT -8
My feeling towards Sunshine Coasters complaining about ferry service/prices is pretty much “well, you chose to live there, if you don’t like ferries then move somewhere else.” That said, I total see where they’re coming from with this one; 3 hours is a long time and 11:30/midnight is way too late for people to be getting home on an average week night for a lot of people who would probably be done their mainland activities by 8 or 9. At the same time I personally love the later sailings, and having the last ferry at like 9pm is equally crappy for a lot of residents who want to come to the mainland for an evening event, without having to spent the night. Unfortunately there isn’t a simple fix here to make everyone happy. Obviously lots of people think 22:55 is too late and want the last sailing to be earlier. But moving the last sailing earlier isn’t great for people who want to be out later. I’m farily sure BC Ferries doesn’t have the ability to add an extra sailing in that gap, and even if they did it probably wouldn’t be busy enough to be justified (cost wise). It’s a long ways off but I hope one day we will see route 3 operating with 2 smaller ships instead of 1 big one.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Oct 14, 2018 17:13:25 GMT -8
A lot of people travelling this weekend for the Luke Bryan concert, all route 1 sailings from Tsawwassen have sold out for tonight. I wonder if we’ll be seeing an extra round trip tonight...
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Post by futureferrydriver on Oct 6, 2018 9:58:23 GMT -8
An interesting service notice in place for Route 3, and I believe this is the first time I've seen BC Ferries plan ahead for something like this. This seems like a smart plan, and something that will hopefully be appreciated by Thanksgiving travellers leaving SSC this weekend.
"Heavy Foot Passenger Traffic Langdale and Horseshoe Bay Monday October 8th
On Monday October 8th, the Queen of Surrey is expecting heavy foot passenger traffic travelling between Langdale and Horseshoe Bay on the following sailings: 10:55 am, 1:50 pm, and 3:30 pm.
In the event that passenger license is met, BC Ferries has made arrangements to supplement foot passenger service with a water taxi for the 10:55 am and 1:50 pm sailings.
BC Ferries would encourage foot passengers travelling with us to consider an earlier or later sailing on the day if they have travel flexibility.
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 futureferrydriver on Oct 3, 2018 22:00:47 GMT -8
My dad (who I supposed at some point or another in the past has emailed BC Ferries regarding there website) got an email today from their customer relations department regarding the long anticipated new website:
“Good afternoon,
We want to know what you think. Can you help us?
Your opinion is important to us and it will help shape the future of our website.
In the past, you have contacted us about our website, and based on feedback from customers like you, we’re in the process of redesigning our website.
Select one or more of the topics below to anonymously answer a series of short questions to share your thoughts:
1. Homepage – fresh look and feel
2. Current Conditions – new way to display info
3. Schedules – improved with real-time data
It won’t take long, it’s completely anonymous, and all feedback is welcome.
We’re excited to hear what you think so we can use your valuable feedback to build a better website for everyone.
Thank you for your time and help.
Regards,
BC Ferries”
I went through one of the 3 surveys and it looks like most of the details of the new webpage have been decided and they were asking for feedback on the new version. (Basically the survey was like a mini beta test).
Initial impressions are that functionally there doesn’t seem to be much difference between new and old, however the new version has a more modern look and feel, and is a bit more intuative for finding info etc.
Unfortunately still no mention of a proper mobile site, which is something I think should be prioritized over updating a website that works just fine the way it is... oh well, maybe one day!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Sept 14, 2018 9:23:12 GMT -8
Looks like the journey has officially begun! Vesselfinder showing SoVI surrounded by tugs just outside of FMU in the Fraser! Farwell SoVI, have a safe trip!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 29, 2018 11:22:29 GMT -8
Here is my one (and probably only) entry for this theme. This picture was taken back in 2015 during my first year at UVic (at Thanksgiving IIRC), back when I was just discovering my love of ferries. I think this fits the moody fall theme beautifully. Full size available: HERE
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 25, 2018 9:30:19 GMT -8
Do you know when the official date when the Spirit of Vancouver Island will leave Deas for Poland? For dead head moves like the Renaissance going to SWB from Dep Bay do the crew take their own personal vehicles onboard or is the crew transported in a BCF minivan? Swartz Bay crew is driving up to bring the Renaissance down. I’d say its *almost* for sure that they are driving their personal vehicles up and bringing them back with the ship. I’m not sure of the official Deas departure date but IIRC the BC left in late September so I think somewhere around September 20th would be a good guess??
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 21, 2018 16:24:06 GMT -8
Looks like the Spirit of Vancouver Island goes out of service on September 5. Time to prepare her to head over to Poland? We’ve been preparing for almost 2 weeks already! There have been maintenance vehicles on the last few days prepping what can be done while shes still in service. Also graveyard shifts been pulling off extra stores, engine room stuff and whatever else isn’t needed for the last few weeks of service/the trip to Poland. The Renaissance will be coming down from Nanaimo overnight on the 4th (arriving at 0400~) to become the number 2 ship and the Celebration takes over for the SoVI starting with the 0700 sailing on the 5th.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 15, 2018 8:55:22 GMT -8
There has been huge improvement in recent years. The ‘chute’ style evacuation systems mentioned in the articles above have been abandoned by BCF in favour of a much safer system which is best described as a ‘covered slide.’ Here are a couple of examples of the LSA system used on many BCF ships today: goo.gl/images/S6h4Djgoo.gl/images/T6K8niI couldn’t find any images of the older style in my 30 second search, but here is a video of it:
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