Queen of Sidney and Tswassen

[Ferry Guy]

Why would they retire the sidney several years before the tswassen and why did they sell the queen of victoria when the vancouver,sanich and esquimalt were in the same bad shape? Any thoughts. . .

[Doug]

Perhaps because they weren't allowed to use the name "Queen of Victoria" for naming a ship? Probably not the case. They also sold her for almost FREE. Less than $600 thousand. That's cheap....

[mvQueenofnewwestminster]

When the Queen of Sidney was retired in 2000, there were several factors in play; First off, Seattle based Princess Margurite co, which had bought the Queen of Burnaby & renamed it as the "Princess Margurite III"a few years prior, was deperate to unload the ship, as their experiment was a financial disaster & they were desperate to recoup any part they could of their investment. Second, the Sidney had been running the Powell River Run solid, since 1985 & the constant wear, had aged the ship more, than her sister, the Tsawwassen, which was even back then, still only a releif ship. BC Ferries quickly repurchased the Princess Margurite III(Queen of Burnaby) back & she immediately replaced the Sidney on the Powell River run.
Third, it WAS 2000 & the full failure of the PATHETICats had not yet hit. As far as BC Ferries was concerned, they now had an abundance of ships & the Queen of Sidney was deemed surplus. Had they known what white Elephants the Fast-CATASTROPHIES

[mvQueenofnewwestminster]

When the Queen of Sidney was retired in 2000, there were several factors in play; First off, Seattle based Princess Margurite co, which had bought the Queen of Burnaby & renamed it as the "Princess Margurite III"a few years prior, was deperate to unload the ship, as their experiment was a financial disaster & they were desperate to recoup any part they could of their investment. Second, the Sidney had been running the Powell River Run solid, since 1985 & the constant wear, had aged the ship more, than her sister, the Tsawwassen, which was even back then, still only a releif ship. BC Ferries quickly repurchased the Princess Margurite III(Queen of Burnaby) back & she immediately replaced the Sidney on the Powell River run.
Third, it WAS 2000 & the full failure of the PATHETICats had not yet hit. As far as BC Ferries was concerned, they now had an abundance of ships & the Queen of Sidney was deemed surplus. Had they known what white Elephants the Fast-CATastrophies would turn out to be, they might have held on a little longer to the old girl.
As much as I love the Queen of Tsawwassen, the truth is, she is WAY past her time & when you hear some of the tremendous effort the engineers have to do, just to keep the ship safe & afloat, it becomes clear that she has to be replaced, but quick. I will definately miss her when she is gone, as she is now the LAST of the original 2.
With regards to the Queen of Victoria, again surplus. When both Spirit class vessels entered service by 1994, there were a total of (6) Spirit & V-Class ships, & although TODAY, we could use each & every one of those ships on the Tsawwassen Victoria run alone, 10 years ago, the need was not so prevailant. If only they could have had a crystall ball back then to see the effect the decisions made back THEN, would have on the company TODAY.

[Sean Goerzen]

I think B.C ferries should have Kept Queen of Sidney .It would be like keeping history . Because Sidney and Tssawwassen were the firsst 2 ferries in the fleet. And bes :)ides you could always upgrade the old ferries.

[Harbourlynx Kid]

You could do that. but just think of all the regulations youd have to keep up with. it would cost you 10X the amount that they are worth to upgrade them and bring them up to standards.