How busy is your favorite route?

[Neil]

Here are some figures from BC Ferries annual stats as of March '06.

After each route name is the figure for the average % of vehicle capacity filled; the second figure is the yearly number of extra round trips made, due to demand.

Tsawwassen- Swartz Bay 79.5/ 176
Horseshoe Bay- Departure Bay 64.7/ 52
Tsawwassen- Duke Point 52.4/ 2
Swartz Bay-Saltspring Isl. 61.3/ 48
Swartz Bay- Gulf Isles 42.4/ 22
Crofton- Saltspring Isl 39.4/ 2
Earls Cove- Saltery Bay 29/ 4
Horseshoe Bay- Bowen Isl 57.9/ 5
Tsawwassen- Gulf Isles 53.6/ 91
Powell River- Comox 32.2/ 1
Powell River- Texada Isl 29.1/ 17
Nanaimo- Gabriola Isl 53.1/ 6
Chemainus- Thetis&Kuper Isles 34.2/ 3
Buckley Bay- Denman Isl 44.8/ 221
Denman Isl- Hornby Isl 42.9/ 332
Campbell River- Quadra Isl 51.4/ 20
Quadra Isl- Cortes Isl 48.1/ 28
Port MacNeill-Alert Bay-Sointula 40.7/ 15
Skidegate- Alliford Bay 26.5/ 18
Port Hardy- Prince Rupert 72.2/ 4
Prince Rupert- Skidegate 73.1/ 4
Horseshoe Bay- Langdale 58.4/ 41
Brentwood Bay- Mill Bay 71.2/ 1
Discovery Coast 40.3/ 0

Check out the number of extra sailings for Denman and Hornby, when the ferries are shuttling for a good part of the summer. And the little Mill Bay turns out to be one of the best utilized ferries in the fleet.

A footnote: as to who should get the new intermediate vessel, Bowen, or Earls Cove- Saltery Bay.... the figures above are backed up by the total vehicles carried: Horseshoe Bay - Bowen 562,000 / Earls Cove - Saltery Bay 206,000.

[Scott]

Wow.. those are really interesting numbers, and they raise some questions.

I would have thought that the Campbell River - Quadra Island route might do the shuttle run in the summer, but it doesn't seem like it with only 20 extra sailings.

Where does the Queen of Nanaimo get the time to do 91 extra runs per year? Or do they bring on the Bowen Queen for an extra run and count that as extra?

Those Powell River runs (including Earls Cove) sure are under-utilized. So does that mean BC Ferries will try to sell the routes or will they put smaller ferries on the routes? What do you guys think about growth in that region?

Looks like they have pretty full ships running on the Inside Passage and to the Queen Charlottes. And keep in mind that was before the Queen of the North sunk. So I can see why people up there are wanting a new ship in a hurry.

[Koastal Karl]

The person who has the BC Highways site, on his section of the inside passage ferry trip it shows the Queen of North being full right up. So I can imagine what this summer was like on the Queen of Prince Rupert. I full ferry with no cabins. They do need another ship up there soon.

[kylefossett]

route 9 the extra sailings are probably when the bowen queen is doing sailings. she does 2 sailings a day, 5 days a week for the summer, roughly 9 weeks so that works to be extra 90 sailings

[Mike C]

I'll say it again: "Screw Discovery Coast and put the Chilliwack on that run with the 'Rupert on Pt. Hardy-Pr. Rupert-Skidegate."

BTW Thanks for posting that HornbyGuy.

[poeticlives]

I think Earls Cove-Saltery Bay should get the new vessel by virtue of duration.

[Balfour]

poeticlives said:

I think Earls Cove-Saltery Bay should get the new vessel by virtue of duration.

That route is scheduled to get the New Interdiate Vessel, which is to be built here in North Van, and in service by 2008.

[Curtis]

The problem is that the Vessel doesn't have the size for the Saltery Bay route at busy times, and the Vessel Could go to Bowen Island after a year on the route the only reason it's going on Saltery Bay is because Bowen Island doesn't have the Terminal Size.

[poeticlives]

qsandwich said:

Interdiate

Intermediate, my man. You must be giving your English Professors nightmares!

I can see the sense in two vessels doing Bowen Island. Anyone who commutes to the mainland can understand.