BC Ferries and Olympics Scheduling

[Northern Exploration]

Friends who claimed they would avoid downtown during the Olympics, and even threatened to leave town, are now part of the throng in Robson Square and elsewhere. The gambit of ages runs from the mid twenties to the high 70's. Seems many of the naysayers re traffic, fuss and muss and been swept along with the whole energy of the games. And of course I have been reminding them of their reformed party pooper ways at every opportunity.

I think that is in part responsible for some of the crowds on the ferries. People that vowed to avoid are now also feeling the need to witness and be part of the whole scene. I wouldn't doubt some Islanders are feeling the need.

We have just had our first significant snowfall of the winter (this year it means it was borderline whether to get out the snowblower and look a bit foolish or actually shovel) and it was a wet sloppy affair. But I see the same trend with people who hate winter and moan the whole season and those that embrace it. The former try and cocoon and pretend winter doesn't exist and make the season seem even longer. The latter get out and skate, walk, go for drives in the country and get on with life and actually embrace winter and enjoy it.

[Neil]

Hahn shot down suggestions that ferries should be running every hour, whether they’re busy or not, to prevent lineups. “And how much do you want me to raise the fares to cover all of that?” he asked.
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That's a fair question, and people who are criticizing BC Ferries for their scheduling need to consider that, although some of their extra sailing times do seem a bit odd.

In late '08, when the Liberals were trying to curry favour with the voters prior to the May election, they threw a huge wack of cash at BC Ferries so they could lower fares for two months. As far as I know, despite the enormous overall investment they've made in the Olympics, they've given BC Ferries nothing to help them cover costs. Hahn says the extra sailings are costing the company $2 million, and we don't have access to contrary figures to argue the point. If the province had matched the $2 million BC Ferries says they're spending, chances are these overloads wouldn't have occurred.

[cobblehillian]

Is the 2 million the amount of the loss to BCF for the extra service, or is it BCF's cash outlay that will be offset or perhaps, even exceeded by the revenue generated from the extra sailings?

[hwy19man]

Feb 23, 2010 8:02:55 GMT -8 Northern Exploration said:

Friends who claimed they would avoid downtown during the Olympics, and even threatened to leave town, are now part of the throng in Robson Square and elsewhere. The gambit of ages runs from the mid twenties to the high 70's. Seems many of the naysayers re traffic, fuss and muss and been swept along with the whole energy of the games. And of course I have been reminding them of their reformed party pooper ways at every opportunity.

I think that is in part responsible for some of the crowds on the ferries. People that vowed to avoid are now also feeling the need to witness and be part of the whole scene. I wouldn't doubt some Islanders are feeling the need.

We have just had our first significant snowfall of the winter (this year it means it was borderline whether to get out the snowblower and look a bit foolish or actually shovel) and it was a wet sloppy affair. But I see the same trend with people who hate winter and moan the whole season and those that embrace it. The former try and cocoon and pretend winter doesn't exist and make the season seem even longer. The latter get out and skate, walk, go for drives in the country and get on with life and actually embrace winter and enjoy it.

I understand what you are saying but there have been many mainlanders who have avoided downtown Vancouver and\or have travelled to Vancouver Island, interior or crossed the border to the USA. I know on CHEK 6 they reported that many island hotels\motels and resorts have been having their business spike due to Vancouverites getting away from the crowds. On a smaller scale, Victorians left town during the 1994 Commonwealth games. Naysayers have gone in three directions, dropped their fears and have joined the party, left town to get away from the party, and the remaining have stayed at home and continue to sulk. Your comments about the snow are so true. Many wish the snow would happen like it did last winter. Past Olympic cities have had the same trends.

[hwy19man]

The article posted by Neil is good. I agree that having four vessels running on route 1 is unnecessary but three vessels doing four round trips each would be the ideal compromise.

I know someone who took the 200h sailing last week and enjoyed it as it was obviously quiet and spacious. It made it easy to drive around the Vancouver area. The odd thing is while it was nice to see that two extra sailings were added on Sunday at 2000h and 2300h from TSA, the ships did not take any vehicles that were waiting at SWB for a 2200h or 100h sailing.

[dofd]

I wonder how quick the PCL ferry buses fill right now. I went to Victoria for the opening ceremonies and had to take the PCL on Sunday to guarantee passage back to Vancouver.
Though the bus was only 50% full; the line up on the ferry to buy tickets was huge.

PS: My Iphone BC Ferries sched app has never updated to this Feb sched.! It still ends at 9:00pm.

[Scott]

They need a couple of little passenger ferries;) But this kind of thing probably isn't going to happen often enough to warrant that.