Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,177
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Post by Neil on Jan 4, 2019 23:16:55 GMT -8
Re-fuelling of the Salish Eagle at Swartz Bay on Wednesday night appears to have created two deadhead runs, if they didn't exist before.
The 'Eagle leaves Tsawwassen, stopping at Galiano, Mayne and Pender, before taking on nourishment at Swartz, arriving there at 10:15. She then has to get back to Long Harbour, which is not on the schedule.
The Queen of Cumberland leaves Sturdies Bay at 8:40, having picked up Long Harbour traffic transferring from Tsawwassen. She gets to Saltspring at 8:40, then makes an unscheduled departure, presumably to Swartz Bay to tie up for the night. Diverting the 'Cumberland to Saltspring doesn't seem to have changed the late evening schedule, which I haven't quite figured out.
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Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Jan 5, 2019 7:34:54 GMT -8
The sailing I don’t get is Friday’s when the Mayne Queen sails from Village Bay to Long Harbour then departs Long Harbour at 6pm for Swartz Bay! There is no scheduled sailing from Village Bay to Long Harbour at that time. I’m wondering what the purpose of this is??
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Post by Ferryman on Jan 5, 2019 10:10:47 GMT -8
The sailing I don’t get is Friday’s when the Mayne Queen sails from Village Bay to Long Harbour then departs Long Harbour at 6pm for Swartz Bay! There is no scheduled sailing from Village Bay to Long Harbour at that time. I’m wondering what the purpose of this is?? This is so travellers can carry on and transfer to Salt Spring from Tsawwassen, allowing the Route 9 vessel to head back to Tsawwassen for another load of travellers to the Gulf Islands which is where the predominant flow of traffic will be coming from on a Friday night of course. Last winter they had a routine for the Eagle to do that trip back to Long Harbour on Friday nights around 5pm. So both options could be an experiment.
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Post by Departure Bay on Jan 13, 2019 11:11:02 GMT -8
So here's a strange thing that might just be an error. I went to look at the reservation system to see if BC Ferries had adjusted it for the Duke Point closure. They have, but oddly, if you select Departure Bay as your departure terminal, Sunshine Coast / Saltery Bay is an option for the arrival terminal. So far I haven't been able to find a date for which reservations can actually be made on this route.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,177
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Post by Neil on Jan 13, 2019 19:01:12 GMT -8
So here's a strange thing that might just be an error. I went to look at the reservation system to see if BC Ferries had adjusted it for the Duke Point closure. They have, but oddly, if you select Departure Bay as your departure terminal, Sunshine Coast / Saltery Bay is an option for the arrival terminal. So far I haven't been able to find a date for which reservations can actually be made on this route. ...but if you start on a reservation for Departure Bay to Saltery Bay, there is the message that no sailings are available. I'm guessing that this is a glitch relating to another time Departure Bay hosted a temporary route, when the Island Sky was sailing to Saltery Bay, back when the Powell River dock was being rebuilt.
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Post by Dane on Mar 26, 2019 10:15:00 GMT -8
The New West is making a single direction sailing at 10pm from Tsawwassen to Duke Point. Anyone know what this is for?
Edit: poor research on my part. It's supplementing the Coquitlam being in service in place of the Inspiration for more overheight capacity.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jun 16, 2019 17:28:40 GMT -8
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Post by Departure Bay on Jun 17, 2019 13:04:37 GMT -8
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jun 17, 2019 15:36:25 GMT -8
Truly what is point of this press release because it’s not best word press release such as 6:25 am on route 2 no matter the time of year the first sailing is usually between 6 an to 6:30 am.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jun 17, 2019 17:15:56 GMT -8
Truly what is point of this press release because it’s not best word press release such as 6:25 am on route 2 no matter the time of year the first sailing is usually between 6 an to 6:30 am. The late-night sailing on Route-2 is new. Also, for someone aiming to get the first ferry in the morning, knowing the exact sailing time is a good thing. After getting-up early, you don't want to miss it by 5 or 10 minutes. Yes, it is sometimes difficult to find a clear and understandable way to communicate a point.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jun 17, 2019 18:38:59 GMT -8
Truly what is point of this press release because it’s not best word press release such as 6:25 am on route 2 no matter the time of year the first sailing is usually between 6 an to 6:30 am. The late-night sailing on Route-2 is new. Also, for someone aiming to get the first ferry in the morning, knowing the exact sailing time is a good thing. After getting-up early, you don't want to miss it by 5 or 10 minutes. Yes, it is sometimes difficult to find a clear and understandable way to communicate a point. But I seem to recall the 12:00 am sailing on Fridays from both terminal on route 1 last year. It seems like 11:40 pm sailing from Horseshoe Bay is happening more frequently now.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,177
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Post by Neil on Jul 17, 2019 18:02:08 GMT -8
I don't think there's a thread for people to discuss their interactions with BC Ferries customer service, so I'll just put this here.
Yesterday I sent a note asking if I could get the summer schedule for the Mayne Queen, saying that I had so much enjoyed my excursions on her sister ship out of Tsawwassen in previous years. Today, a customer service rep named Amadea sent me the daily schedule. I thought that was pretty darned good service, and I told her so.
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Post by Olympic Ferries on Aug 11, 2019 6:23:55 GMT -8
During recent vacation time, I was finally able to put together a sheet that shows the sailing patterns for each of the Southern Gulf Islands vessels by Crew Shifts (both the AM and PM) on Routes 5, 5A, 9 and 9A. I have found this very helpful of recently in planning a trip on each vessel (since it changes every day) so hopefully it can be of some use for trip planning.
The Mayne Queen (5A) sheet came right off the boat (I got a photo on a recent trip), but the sheets for 5, 9 and 9A are custom-styled me in a similar fashion to that of the original.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Sept 2, 2019 19:18:22 GMT -8
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,177
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Post by Neil on Sept 2, 2019 19:52:55 GMT -8
Thanks for pointing this out, 'Blue Bus Fan'. It looks like the schedule might be happening, but not on their outdated site. I wonder if facebook pages or other Texada sites might have mentions of this. Not the first time Texada to Comox service has been tried. The Courtenay area has a lot of medical/health services and specialists that are accessed by people in Powell River, and it makes sense to have a connection for Texada as well. However, the connection from Texada apparently will leave 8am-ish and return after 6pm. Pretty long interval. I wonder if other considerations are in play. A Saturday trip obviously would not be for medical purposes.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,177
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Post by Neil on Oct 2, 2019 20:44:58 GMT -8
I was looking at the route 1 schedule posted in the Vancouver Sun today, for the period of September 3 to October 14th. For that short period, there were fourteen symbols below the departure times, indicating exceptions on certain dates. Fourteen. That indicates to me that BC Ferries either has to stop fine tuning their schedule to the point of incomprehensibility, or they need to have an option on their website where you can get the schedule for a given date, with no weird little symbols. A ferry schedule should not be rocket science.
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dave2
Chief Steward
Deckhand!: Todo: Introduction post (I was born less than 100 feet from the ocean. The tide was...)
Posts: 155
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Post by dave2 on Oct 2, 2019 21:01:11 GMT -8
I was looking at the route 1 schedule posted in the Vancouver Sun today, for the period of September 3 to October 14th. For that short period, there were fourteen symbols below the departure times, indicating exceptions on certain dates. Fourteen. That indicates to me that BC Ferries either has to stop fine tuning their schedule to the point of incomprehensibility, or they need to have an option on their website where you can get the schedule for a given date, with no weird little symbols. A ferry schedule should not be rocket science. That wouldn't be hard for them to do, as you say this is nearly incomprehensible.
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Post by Mike C on Oct 3, 2019 10:36:59 GMT -8
I was looking at the route 1 schedule posted in the Vancouver Sun today, for the period of September 3 to October 14th. For that short period, there were fourteen symbols below the departure times, indicating exceptions on certain dates. Fourteen. That indicates to me that BC Ferries either has to stop fine tuning their schedule to the point of incomprehensibility, or they need to have an option on their website where you can get the schedule for a given date, with no weird little symbols. A ferry schedule should not be rocket science. During the summer months I leaned entirely on the reservation system for all Route 1/2 travel; the mental gymnastics required in reading their published schedule is crazy these days. It would be nice to just select a day to see the schedule without going through the reservation booking prompts. The Air Canada online PDF system schedule has fewer symbols, and that is far more complex with different operators, specific days of the week, more stops etc.
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Post by Kahloke on Oct 3, 2019 11:36:01 GMT -8
I was looking at the route 1 schedule posted in the Vancouver Sun today, for the period of September 3 to October 14th. For that short period, there were fourteen symbols below the departure times, indicating exceptions on certain dates. Fourteen. That indicates to me that BC Ferries either has to stop fine tuning their schedule to the point of incomprehensibility, or they need to have an option on their website where you can get the schedule for a given date, with no weird little symbols. A ferry schedule should not be rocket science. During the summer months I leaned entirely on the reservation system for all Route 1/2 travel; the mental gymnastics required in reading their published schedule is crazy these days. It would be nice to just select a day to see the schedule without going through the reservation booking prompts. The Air Canada online PDF system schedule has fewer symbols, and that is far more complex with different operators, specific days of the week, more stops etc. BC Ferries website could do something similar to what WSF does, and that is schedule by calendar. www.wsdot.com/ferries/schedule/schedulebydate.aspxWSF could do also do a better job of making this page more obvious on their site. It's not the default format when you click on schedules. You have to hunt around a little for it. But, I do like that it gives you just the times for the destination you want, on that particular day. It also tells you which vessel is scheduled if you are looking at same day (doesn't project vessel assignment on future days)
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Oct 3, 2019 11:39:59 GMT -8
I truly don’t think the schedule on route 1 and 2 are that hard to understand because they seem to follow patterns. The only schedule that BC Ferries should try to fix are route 5 and 9 because sailing are completely different through out the week. This schedule will begin April 1, 2020 thru March 31, 2021. I didn’t think BC Ferries would do this Blubber Bay stop during the summer. www.bcferries.com/schedules/mainland/copr-current.php?scheduleSelect=sch04012017.html
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Post by Dane on Dec 10, 2019 14:19:00 GMT -8
Random question that honestly is to determine if I pack snacks...
The 1230 weekday Mayne-Swartz Bay. Mayne Queen, or Salish InsertNameHere?
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Post by Ferryman on Dec 10, 2019 22:31:36 GMT -8
Random question that honestly is to determine if I pack snacks... The 1230 weekday Mayne-Swartz Bay. Mayne Queen, or Salish InsertNameHere? I’m about 95% certain that is the Mayne Queen that completes that sailing. The website is down right now I can’t check to be sure. If you were an hour earlier it would be the Salish Raven (provided it’s not between Dec 20-Jan 3rd when the Cumberland returns home for a couple of weeks over the Holidays)
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Post by Dane on Dec 11, 2019 7:06:01 GMT -8
Thanks! It'll be the 19th.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Feb 7, 2020 9:06:46 GMT -8
The next reincarnation of the Texada-Comox direct ferry experience starts on February 19th. Wednesday and Saturday will have a morning and evening Comox route sailing stop at Texada Island, allowing Texadians to go direct to/from Comox. The schedule is for a westbound sailing in the morning for Texadian appointments on Vancouver Island, and an eastbound return to Texada in the evening. Schedule H E R EA conversation with my spouse prompted this post. She's more in-tune with ferries than I am, these days.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,177
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Post by Neil on Feb 7, 2020 10:06:07 GMT -8
A conversation with my spouse prompted this post. She's more in-tune with ferries than I am, these days. It's sad when people lose their way in life. If your better half is growing in her connection to ferries and you're not, that could cause problems down the road.
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