Empty sailings

[Koastal Karl]

Well tonight Christmas Eve it looks like the last sailings on route 1 are gonna be pretty much empty. Same with route 2 and 30. Christmas morning I really think BC Ferries needs to look at the traffic conditions to see that they dont really need a 7am and 9am sailings Christmas morning. They could get by without them same with the first two sailings and route 2 also. Every other route has the first two to three sailings cancelled so I think route 1 and 2 should be the same so employees have a bit of time on Christmas morning to be with family.

[Balfour]

I think you're right Karl. It's also a waste of money if the demand for early morning sailings on Christas isn't there.

[Retrovision]

I agree. Unfortunately BCFS has already taken the (unnecessarily large ammount of) money from people who reserved, including a friend of mine who's due to be on the 9am out of TSA.

[Doug]

So what is the deal with crews on Christmas? Normally it is two crews a day, but I am assuming they put three or four (if four are available...) on Christmas. Why work eight hours on a holiday?

[hergfest]

According to the current conditions page, the Vancouver and the Sannich are doing the last two round trips tonight on Route 1 instead of the Spirits.

[Koastal Karl]

Yeah I just noticed that. What is up with that??? Also I am surprised cause there is a 1 sailing wait from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay. I thought Christmas Day is supose to be less busy!

[Koastal Karl]

And there is no service notice about it so I wonder what is going on??

[Dane]

Yes, I think you're correct. We used to always sail on the 12:30 or 3:00 out of the Horse to get to Naniamo every Christmas and they were relativly busy but the morning sailings were not nearly as busy as those mid-days.

[Retrovision]

To save time, here's an edited version of my post from Yahoo! Groups' 'bcferriesclub':

--- In bcferriesclub@..., "Karl" <karladelman@y...> wrote:
>
> Yeah I noticed that too. But why are the Queen of Saanich and
> Vancouver replacing the Spirit ships???
>

I'm assuming it's because of the low demand today. I agree with your
statement on "The Ferries of British Columbia" discussion board the
other day, Karl; Leaving the Spitits tied up for the *first* two runs of
the day makes a lot more sense in terms of when the crowds travel on Xmas day, if the purpose of the Spirits tying up is as a cost saving measure. I would think
that even on Christmas day, the rush will be during the evening, when
the smaller boats are supposed to be used today.

[Koastal Karl]

Yeah although I was suprised today because there was a 1 sailing wait from Tsawwassen today Christmas Day.

[Scott]

I was on the Queen of Cowichan from Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay today.. the 12:30 sailing. No reservation, and got there 12:10 or so. We got on. Reservations were full for the sailing, but still weren't needed. It wasn't a full ferry, but it was busy.

I figured that even though the reservations for underheight vehicles were sold out a couple weeks ago, there were no "overheight" reservations so there was all that extra room. Like I said, it wasn't full, but they still had to make announcements for people to move their bags off their chairs to make room for all the people... and to clear out the cafeteria which was very busy.

[cascade]

Is BCFS running Ghost Ship / Sailing ?

With breakdowns over say a 12 month period - they need to get in runs so they get the Provincial Subsides, which are geared towards the contract that (BCFS) have signed under there Coastal Ferry Contract with the Province (Sorry Doug - but it is in the act)

[Koastal Karl]

opposite of empty right now as of 11:30 am there is a 2 sailing wait from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen and it lined up down the highway again.

[hergfest]

If there are overloads on the last sailing of the day, BCF will usually do one more round trip on the major routes. The trip back is usually a ghost sailing.
On a side note, WSF had the last San Juan Sailing and PT-Keystone runs sold out last night, so some people got left behind.

[Koastal Karl]

Why dont WSF make extra trips??

[Koastal Karl]

a few minutes before we just hit a 3 sailing wait from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen! All routes at least have a 1 sailing wait.

[Koastal Karl]

There sure will be some empty sailings tonight. Basically all mainland routes both ways have capacities of 20% or less for the next sailings which are 6pm Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, 5:45 is only 20% full and it is 5:30 right now, 7pm from both Departure Bay and Horseshoe Bay are under 20% full. 7pm Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen is only 10% full. I was on the ferries last new years eve on the 9pm sailing from Tswassen to Swartz Bay and it wasent even half full. A nice quiet evening to be on the ferries tonight!

[cascade]

So it sounds like BCFS is running Ghost ships - plus to get there vessel in place for the next day - which is the reason they say they run "empty" vessels. (Good way to use fuel)

[Dane]

Cascade the clause you speak too is easily met by summer sailings. The minimum sail count requires I believe 6 or so corssings a day on route 1 and 2.

[cascade]

Dane,

For the propose of the records - round trips ect... the year is broken into Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 ect... and reported on to the Ferry Commissioner. It is during these different Q that they need to met the required number so they can claim part of the BC Government subsides for each route.

Plus factor in the break down of a vessel and the need to re-position a vessel in line with the schedule for the next working day.

[Mike C]

If you guys are actually looking for empty sailings, head on up to Powell River, and ride the QOBurn to Little River (Comox) @8:45 or the North IP to Blubber Bay (Texada), later and including the 6:55. ^_^

[Dane]

cascade said:

Dane,

For the propose of the records - round trips ect... the year is broken into Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 ect... and reported on to the Ferry Commissioner. It is during these different Q that they need to met the required number so they can claim part of the BC Government subsides for each route.

Plus factor in the break down of a vessel and the need to re-position a vessel in line with the schedule for the next working day.

The sailing levels are still very very flexible with the demanded numbers. Most routes, even during the last strike still met those numbers with next to no service.

[cascade]

Dane,

They are required under there contract with the Province to provide a number of round trips per Q - anything less and they lose money - so the running even very late at night - counts as a trip - plus the re-position of the vessel for the start of business the next day.

[Retrovision]

Except for the breakdown of the the Queen of Saanich last summer (forcing her to limp through Boundary Pass, south of Saturna Island, to get back to Swartz Bay), I haven't heard of a BCF ship deadheading; obviously BCFS isn't going to publish deadheaders, but you know by where they end up at night and where they start in the morning (among other factors) if a ship has deadheaded.

I can tell you that, although only for two weeks at the start of January, route 1 goes to as few as 3 extra round trip sailings, and maintains only 4 extra round trip sailings per week during the slow seasons. That being said, (other than for, say, Xmas or NewYears) route 1 maintains a constant base of 8 round trips per day, or 56 round trips per week, maintained (when in service) by the two Spirit-Class ships.

[cascade]

The "dead ending" of trips ect...is something that I am sure the company - BCFS - will not let out.
A stupid question - but who counts the "round trips" on each route, and then passes this info on to someone in the government who in turns pays the funds across. Plus how do they check?

A simple question and I am sure there is a very simple answer, plus many ways to check that the vessels did the trip - crew manning records for one - BUT did they carry any fee paying passengers?