Route-30 vessels

[Ferryman]

dane said:

nickfro said:

Might this be the first summer season for us to see 3 different ferries running on Route 30? If so, that would be a likely placement for the QoNW since it operates at a faster service speed than the Saanich and Vancouver. It would then run on Route 1 for the fall/winter/spring period.

Perhaps the first for those of us that haven't been watching BC Ferrries for 20 years but there has been occasion for three vessel types I believe? There is if you consider the Alberni a creature unto herself pre-lifting, which would be logical since we consider the New West similarly. For the average passenger, I don't think it's going to make much of a difference (Notwithstanding the interior). It's sort of like a BMW, they all look the same, just one has twice the guts under the hood.

I can recall reading somewhere on here, that the Queen of Victoria would often act as the 3rd boat on Route 30, when the Route was just getting started. This would have been the days when it was Tsawwassen to Departure Bay. Traffic would get really snarled up at Departure Bay in the summer, so BC Ferries tried to act fast to get everyone out of there. Really, there is/was only enough space for a full load of a C-Class at Departure Bay, and there were so many times that both a Route 30 and Route 2 vessel would arrive. Then there would only be a half load of people in the holding lanes, while everyone else was lined up down Stewart Avenue waiting to get in the terminal.

Also, someone has speculated that the New West will simply take the Queen of Vancouvers spot. I can't seem to find anything on the RBI (yes I checked the commercial truck reservations too, Hardy) that supports the New West being on Route 1 this Spring at least. Maybe the New West refit is quietly taking longer than planned?

As for planned upgrades with the New West, many of us have been discussing this during our group get togethers. The last discussion I had witnessed was right around when the New West began her upgrade. One speculated guess was that her sundeck was going to be covered, to provide more interior seating, similar to the V-Class. But, some of the other members have been keeping a close eye on the New West lately, and apparently there is no evidence that the Solarium is being enclosed so far. Another guess, was that the upper aft lounge, was to be turned into a Buffet, that way Buffet service could be offered on all Route 1 ships by mid summer. Whatever happens, I just hope there is enough seating for almost everyone, because the last few times I've been on the New West, I've had to sit outside cause there was absolutely no available seats inside.

[PCL Driver]

Information I got from the crew on the SOBC:

Originally the Queen of New West was to replace the Queen of Vancouver this summer on Route 1, but the New West's refit is more extensive then first thought, and it won't be ready until next September.

The Coastal Celebration will be replacing the Saanich as Number 2 vessel at Swartz Bay, and sometime next fall, the C-Cell becomes the Number 1 ship, with the SOVI in the number 2 spot....

[Balfour]

Interesting.

One thing I should point out is to take these rumours with a grain of salt. What you may hear from a staff member might not be true but maybe it is. We don't know for sure. It is fun to speculate and all, but nothing is really confirmed until we hear it from a BCF Press Release.

I remember hearing a similar rumour about the Queen of Alberni taking longer than originally planned during her MLU last year but she ended up being back in Service for June.

[Mill Bay]

pcldriver said:

The Coastal Celebration will be replacing the Saanich as Number 2 vessel at Swartz Bay, and sometime next fall, the C-Cell becomes the Number 1 ship, with the SOVI in the number 2 spot....

Hmmmm. Isn't a C-Cell a type of battery?

[Dane]

So far, from what I have observed they're still at the stripping stage of the New West's refit, so I wouldn't dig too deeply into what has happened, yet. Given the limited information we have the above post is right to say we shouldn't speculate too far. A buffet and a covered solarium would both make sense for the New West, but alas they would both my costly - a word I am not sure BCFS is familiar with, at least so far as the refurbishment/mid-lifes are involved.

I have recently acquired a new contact with Washington marine, but I don't see him very often. Anyways he is in charge of their Marine Operations so I will ask him if he has a time frame from for the New West. The last Annual Report suggested the New West would be in the same time window as the previous C Class mid lifes.

Here's another question - what happens after the New West's "mid-life"? Haven't they run out of ships to upgrade for now?

[chinook2]

Why V's over C's? simple. No fixed mezzanine decks. In low traffic times the Esquimalt can carry more of the baseline work (ie trucks). Worth the extra payroll, I am sure. The Coq would be there otherwise.

Prediction on CI deployment: off season, when SoVI not in refit, on weekdays the two will share the 1 spot with SoVI in the busier morning--pm watch can fire up the CI--max capacity for the morning, max efficiency in the evening.

[DENelson83]

pcldriver said:

The Coastal Celebration will be replacing the Saanich as Number 2 vessel at Swartz Bay, and sometime next fall, the C-Cell becomes the Number 1 ship, with the SOVI in the number 2 spot....

But what about the SOBC?

[Low Light Mike]

chinook2 said:

Prediction on CI deployment: off season, when SoVI not in refit, on weekdays the two will share the 1 spot with SoVI in the busier morning--pm watch can fire up the CI--max capacity for the morning, max efficiency in the evening.

Mr. Sechelt Queen: I think you might be mixing up the CI with the CC, and Route-30 with Route-1.

Otherwise your talking about the Coastal Inspiration that's based at Duke Point sharing a route with the SOVI which is based at Swartz Bay.

Confusing to me.......can you please clarify you point sometime? no rush...

Are you talking about the Coastal Inspiration at Duke Point, or the Coastal Celebration at Swartz Bay? (...or maybe the Coastal Duke at Inspiration Point? ;D)

[Hardy]

chinook2 said:

Why V's over C's? simple. No fixed mezzanine decks. In low traffic times the Esquimalt can carry more of the baseline work (ie trucks). Worth the extra payroll, I am sure. The Coq would be there otherwise.

We've already established this for the most part, but as I have been prone to say (I am in the trucking industry, in case you have missed that reading past posts), how you load out the deck space makes a HUGE difference as to how many actual large (read COMMERCIAL) vehicles you can load. I'm not just talking bringing the bumpers to within 8" of each other either, I am talking getting the right vehicle mix -- IE you can't efficiently put two semi (regular or Super-B) next to each other in a curved part of the ship (ie bow outside lane), however, you can put a camper or straight truck in the far outside lane, and then a semi alongside of it to take advantage of the curve. Same thing holds true throughout the deck as well - if you mix the type of traffic properly, you can get a very efficient "tetris-like" load. Overall, when these factors are taking into consideration (assuming the deck crew does it!), the overall decrease in actual over-height traffic is minimal. This assumes too, though, that you have somewhere near the right mix of vehicles for the sailing to be able to load them in this fashion!

chinook2 said:

Prediction on CI deployment: off season, when SoVI not in refit, on weekdays the two will share the 1 spot with SoVI in the busier morning--pm watch can fire up the CI--max capacity for the morning, max efficiency in the evening.

Remember that the CI is deployed initially on Rte-30 to augment that route for the loss of the New West which has been shuffled to Rte-1. BCFS claims that the deployment of the CI to Rte-30 is a test/temporary measure. We will see, as I am sure that they are trying to pump up ridership on this run (see CoastSavers etc). Having this run back at a regular schedule (with the Cowichan) helps quite a bit for the general travelling public, by having a similar schedule on both ends, and having a uniform 2h crossing time. IIRC, the CI is planned to be moved over to Rte-2 so that there are 2 Coastal boats on that run. I think that this will probably be done pre-Olympics. The discussion about fleet deployment has raged on elsewhere, but you need to remember that ORIGINALLY, the first two Coastals were earmarked for Rte-2, and that is the route that chronically shows sailing delays etc. If we ever get to the point where we can offer true year round 4 boat service on the two major routes, then you will see something along the lines of the following: (and this assumes that the standard V's are retired/sold/mothballed)...

Rte-1
SoVI
SoBC
CC
New West

Rte-2
CR
CI (after trial on Rte-30)
Oaky
Coq

Rte-30
Alberni
Cow

I just don't see the demand going up on Rte-30 soon enough to justify throwing a 3rd boat on it. This of course leaves us with the problem of tossing an extra boat onto Rte-3, although does leave us with 4 on Rte-2. A few sailings could be shifted around, I suppose to accommodate additional traffic on Rte-3.

It all depends what the long term goals and ambitions of BCFS are. Not saying that it is at all practical at this point, but if push came to shove and they found out that a regular C class did not perform well on Rte-30, they could always refit it - lift or remove decks, whatever. but the capital cost on that versus the payoff would need to be balanced. It would also then limit the interoperability of that boat on other runs (if the gallery deck was removed). This ignores previous talk of turning the Vancouver into a truck-ferry, but we have seen all 4 boats put up on the sales block. So what the future truly holds is quite uncertain.

Who knows, there may be more new ships in the pipeline, or refits, or purchases ... one never really knows. Too many fare increases, and I am sure we will see people pushing for a fixed link (bridge/tunnel) again too!