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Post by Coastal Canuck on Apr 1, 2009 19:33:53 GMT -8
Service Notice - Mechanical Sailing Cancellations Posted Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Note: This Service Notice applies to the following route(s): Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver) - Departure Bay (Nanaimo)
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Please be advised that the MV Nimpkish has been forced into retirement do to overuse of engines. BC ferries will now only run one (1) ship on the Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay route. Thank you for your patience.
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Post by coastalcody on Apr 1, 2009 20:25:49 GMT -8
If only...
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Post by Hardy on Apr 2, 2009 2:09:53 GMT -8
No announcement by anyone anywhere about this, but BCFS has quietly CHOPPED their call centre hours (the 888-BCFERRY #) - this involves regular questions, commercial vehicle reservations etc.
Hours used to be 0700-2200/7 days. This is no longer the case. It is now 0700-2000/M-F and 0800-1800/S-S
What this means is that when you call the call centre number, or require HUMAN assistance to book a reservation, you now have LESS HOURS to do so.
In speaking to the person that helped me yesterday with commercial vehicle reservations, she also noted that there have been SEVERAL people "downsized" by this in addition to the hours lost at the call centre.
Curious (well, not really!!) that there would be no announcement about the decreased service levels of the call centre ANYWHERE.
Related to this, the switchboard hours at HSB terminal have also been slashed - there IS a service notice about this, but I do not have time to post it...
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,150
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Post by Neil on Apr 2, 2009 11:29:53 GMT -8
There must have been an announcement somewhere, because I heard about this on a radio newscast a week or two ago. BC Ferries spokesperson (might have been DM) said it was due to economics and slightly decreased passenger counts.
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Post by WettCoast on Apr 2, 2009 19:50:15 GMT -8
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Post by Hardy on Apr 2, 2009 20:41:49 GMT -8
I don't 'personally' view the Tyee as a major publication. No announcement on the BCFS site (where you would rightfully think it should be) and also no previous announcement on their call centre line - again, you'd think it might be right after the "welcome aboard" part ... kind of like "Please note, that effective 1 April 09 our call centre hours will be changing..."
But no, they dropped the ball on this, and I for one, because it impacts me directly and immediately, am somewhat p-o'd.
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Post by EGfleet on Apr 14, 2009 13:37:58 GMT -8
For Immediate Release 09-024 April 14, 2009 TSAWWASSEN – SOUTHERN GULF ISLANDS SERVICE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED FOR TWO DAYS VICTORIA – Service between Tsawwassen and the Southern Gulf Islands will be suspended on April 21 and 22 only while the Queen of Nanaimo undergoes regulatory safety inspections. Customers wanting to travel between Tsawwassen and the Southern Gulf Islands on those two days, can do so utilizing the Tsawwassen – Swartz Bay and Swartz Bay – Southern Gulf Islands routes. As no relief vessel is available during this time, BC Ferries chose to conduct the inspections midweek, which traditionally has lower travel demand. Customers are advised to plan their travels accordingly.
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Nick
Voyager
Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078
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Post by Nick on Apr 14, 2009 14:59:14 GMT -8
And this is just further evidence of the lack of foresight BCF has been plagued with. In years prior, the QoN would have been replaced by the 'Tsawwassen while these inspections were done.
By retiring the 'Tsawwassen, and building a replacement that isn't capable of transiting the same waters, they've cut customer service and reliability back significantly. (Of course, not for the mainline routes, which are the only customers that matter)
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Mirrlees
Voyager
Bathtub!
Deck Engineer- Queen of Richmond
Posts: 1,013
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Post by Mirrlees on Apr 14, 2009 16:06:45 GMT -8
I agree with the lack of foresight, one would think that as a temporary measure the Q-NW could be utilized with a Tsawwassen based crew since the New West sits idle for much of the week.
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Quatchi
Voyager
Engineering Officer - CCG
Posts: 930
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Post by Quatchi on Apr 14, 2009 16:24:48 GMT -8
The New West is probably to big and heavy to get into some of the smaller terminals. As well you would be sending crews into terminals they had never been into before, some of which are pretty tricky to get into apparently. Just my thoughts. Too bad the Chilliwack isn't in good running order at the moment. Cheers,
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Post by WettCoast on Apr 14, 2009 17:00:27 GMT -8
They could have at least scheduled a few mainline sailings to stop at Village Bay & exchange traffic with the Swartz Bay based Gulf Islands vessels. Service sinks lower, prices go ever higher. This is what they mean when they say they are bringing us a whole new level of service....
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Post by Mike C on Apr 14, 2009 19:47:02 GMT -8
They could have at least scheduled a few mainline sailings to stop at Village Bay & exchange traffic with the Swartz Bay based Gulf Islands vessels. Service sinks lower, prices go ever higher. This is what they mean when they say they are bringing us a whole new level of service.... Now we're experiencing the difference
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Apr 14, 2009 20:54:47 GMT -8
This may be a purely circular question, but... What about the Bowen Queen? Could they not use her as relief on Rte 9 for a short time, as they do use her as a spare in summer, or temporarily modify the route 5 schedule and have the Cumberland make a visit to Long Harbour.
The reason I'm thinking this is merely a self-answering question is that I seem to remember something about the Bowen not being licensed to cross the straight during the winter. (But it's not winter anymore according to the daffodils is it?)
I think WCK summed it up nicely and, I think we can still question the thought process that went into designing the I-Vessel as well.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,150
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Post by Neil on Apr 14, 2009 20:55:37 GMT -8
Even if the Queen of Tsawwassen were still available, it would hardly be worth it to stock and crew it for two days.
This isn't the first time this has happened, although I haven't been able to locate the archived news release for the previous occasion. Then, as now, they scheduled the couple of down days for mid-week to cause the least inconvenience.
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Post by Scott (Former Account) on Apr 14, 2009 21:03:06 GMT -8
This may be a purely circular question, but... What about the Bowen Queen? The Bowen Queen is replacing the Mayne Queen which is currently at the Esquimalt Graving Dock.
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Nick
Voyager
Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078
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Post by Nick on Apr 14, 2009 21:12:25 GMT -8
The Bowen will be replacing the Skeena shortly as well, while the "Screamer" goes in for a much-needed refit.
Also, the Bowen is only allowed to cross the strait during the summer months, between June and September. TC deems the rest of the year to be too risky.
I'm sure Neil is right, and this has happened before, but I still think BCF screwed up when specifying the I-Sky. I like the ship as a replacement for the intermediate ships, like the Skeena, PRQ class, Cap/Cumbie etc, but as a replacement for the 'Tsawwassen she is sorely lacking.
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Apr 14, 2009 21:24:49 GMT -8
I'm sure Neil is right, and this has happened before, but I still think BCF screwed up when specifying the I-Sky. I like the ship as a replacement for the intermediate ships, like the Skeena, PRQ class, Cap/Cumbie etc, but as a replacement for the 'Tsawwassen she is sorely lacking. I think it's because the Tsawwassen may have been miscategorized by most of us, and probably BCFerries too. They were clearly only looking to replace her vehicle capacity with the IS, and also wanted to downsize and get by with as few crew as possible. The problem is: judging the Tsawwassen solely by vehicle capacity is a bit of a slip. In terms of capacity, she might have only seemed to fit in the intermediate range, but remember, she was originally built as a capital ship and, with her extra 'amenities' and more seaworthy design, she was also not an intermediate vessel. She sort of fit in more than one class and, when replacing her, BCFerries seemed to deliberately move too far to one side of the line in making the replacement a far less adaptable vessel.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,150
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Post by Neil on Apr 14, 2009 22:07:43 GMT -8
I don't really see how they have a problem. I've been told that the 'Burnaby will replace the 'Nanaimo when it's out for it's winter refit, and when the 'Burnaby is filling in, or out for her off season tune-up, they can place the Island Sky and the 'Chilliwack where they're best suited.
So, route 9 gains capacity, and route 17 has the same capacity it would if the dear old 'Tsawwassen was still around to fill in.
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Post by DENelson83 on Apr 17, 2009 10:43:48 GMT -8
Double-ender on Comox-Powell River! www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=96279Service Notice - Temporary Replacement VesselPosted Friday, April 17, 2009 Note: This Service Notice applies to the following route(s): - Comox (Little River) - Powell River (Westview) Beginning Tuesday, May 19, the Queen of Chilliwack will replace the Queen of Burnaby, which is being removed from service to undergo necessary dry-docking. This work is expected to take approximately ten days. During this period, a modified schedule will be in place to accommodate the slower speed of the Queen of Chilliwack. The revised schedule is as follows: Leave Comox (Little River)5:40 a.m. 10:05 a.m. 2:30 p.m. 6:55 p.m. Leave Powell River (Westview)7:55 a.m. 12:20 p.m. 4:45 p.m. 8:55 p.m. As the Queen of Chilliwack has a smaller vehicle and passenger capacity, please note that overloads may occur. Thursday, Friday and Sunday are especially busy travel days. Where possible, passengers are encouraged to plan ahead and consider car pooling, travelling outside of peak sailing times and/or arriving at the terminal early for their desired sailing. Due to the configuration of the Queen of Chilliwack, there is a possibility of restrictions of certain vehicle types at varying tidal heights. Commercial customers are advised to contact the Customer Service Centre at 1-888-BCFERRY (1-888-223-3779) to ensure that commercial vehicle dimensions fit the Queen of Chilliwack’s loading specifications at their desired time of travel.
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Apr 17, 2009 11:45:49 GMT -8
Double-ender on Comox-Powell River! www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=96279Service Notice - Temporary Replacement VesselPosted Friday, April 17, 2009 Note: This Service Notice applies to the following route(s): - Comox (Little River) - Powell River (Westview) Beginning Tuesday, May 19, the Queen of Chilliwack will replace the Queen of Burnaby, which is being removed from service to undergo necessary dry-docking. This work is expected to take approximately ten days. During this period, a modified schedule will be in place to accommodate the slower speed of the Queen of Chilliwack. The revised schedule is as follows: Leave Comox (Little River)5:40 a.m. 10:05 a.m. 2:30 p.m. 6:55 p.m. Leave Powell River (Westview)7:55 a.m. 12:20 p.m. 4:45 p.m. 8:55 p.m. As the Queen of Chilliwack has a smaller vehicle and passenger capacity, please note that overloads may occur. Thursday, Friday and Sunday are especially busy travel days. Where possible, passengers are encouraged to plan ahead and consider car pooling, travelling outside of peak sailing times and/or arriving at the terminal early for their desired sailing. Due to the configuration of the Queen of Chilliwack, there is a possibility of restrictions of certain vehicle types at varying tidal heights. Commercial customers are advised to contact the Customer Service Centre at 1-888-BCFERRY (1-888-223-3779) to ensure that commercial vehicle dimensions fit the Queen of Chilliwack’s loading specifications at their desired time of travel. This reminds me of something I noticed seeing the Chilliwack at Deas the other day. Now, I've been told that they can only use one of her platform decks because Transport Canada's ire has condemned the other one. But, the other day, as we were walking past the Chilliwack after leaving the Vancouver, I looked into her cardeck, and both the platforms were clearly in the lowered position. I don't know if this means they have fixed or modified the platforms so that both can be used in regular operation now, or if it was just to provide clearance for whatever maintenance work was going on on the ship. However, this does seem to contradict the explanation I've heard that one platform deck is permanently welded to the ceiling, because obviously it's not, unless they cut through all those welds just to lower it to use an access platform during maintenance. Come to think of it... it would not make much sense to weld a structure like that to the ceiling permanently, anyway, because there are likely things on the ceiling above it that they would still need to access at certain times anyway, such as during a refit.
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Quatchi
Voyager
Engineering Officer - CCG
Posts: 930
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Post by Quatchi on Apr 17, 2009 12:04:26 GMT -8
Sweet, the Chilliwack comes to the rescue. Take that IS, you are useless HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
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Post by Nickfro on Apr 23, 2009 9:33:14 GMT -8
This one's a beauty! ;D
She's right there in good company with the Northern Explorer! ;D
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Apr 23, 2009 17:01:42 GMT -8
This one's a beauty! ;D She's right there in good company with the Northern Explorer! ;D Especially if the Northern Explorer is built by Ford...
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Post by WettCoast on Apr 23, 2009 17:32:14 GMT -8
Especially if the Northern Explorer is built by Ford... I think you mean their German subsidiary Fordsberger.
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Post by ferryfanyvr on May 6, 2009 6:07:05 GMT -8
Service Notice - Sailing Cancellation - Langdale/Horseshoe Bay Posted Wednesday, May 6, 2009 Note: This Service Notice applies to the following route(s): - Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) - Sunshine Coast (Langdale)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Updated as of 6:15 am
Please be advised that the following sailings of the Queen of Surrey have been cancelled:
6:20 am sailing from Langdale 7:20 am sailing from Horseshoe Bay
We are putting the Queen of Coquitlam into service to replace the Queen of Surrey and expect to sail from Langdale at 8:20 am.
We apologize for any inconvenience this cancellation may cause. ***********
YESSS!!! My favorite ship to the rescue!! I hope she stays in service 'til summer. Now here's hoping I don't get hunted down by a posse of Sunshine Coast residents for dissing the Surrey ;D
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