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Post by royalroadscaptain on Jan 3, 2008 15:24:29 GMT -8
Hi friends,
over the next month or so I'm going to be doing some research on the Mill Bay - Brentwood Bay route. It is my understanding, based on the information I got from several sources including this very discussion board, that this route was put in place as an alternative to the Malahat Drive. I drive the Malahat once or twice a week so I know how nasty it can get occasionally. Yet, it seems that newer cars and even large trucks never had trouble negotiating the drive, and I wonder how long it will take BC Ferries to cut this route, and with fewer and fewer older models on the road.
I was wondering if you have any further information regarding this route, any references to discussions over its financial or practical viability, or any suggestions for me for interested stakeholders to contact regarding this route.
I'm also wondering if any of you have ever chosen to take this route instead of driving, and what your motivation for doing so was.
Thanks in advance for the help, as usual.
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Post by Taxman on Jan 3, 2008 16:31:59 GMT -8
I took it when I was younger, just so my brother and I could cross it off our list of routes to take.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jan 3, 2008 18:11:14 GMT -8
re my reason to take the route:
- I live in Nanaimo.
- I had a 1-day conference to attend, at Dunsmuir-Lodge on the Saanich Peninsula...starting at 9:00am
- I wanted to avoid the Colwood-crawl, and any other Victoria-Saanich traffic woes.
- So I took the day's first sailing across the Saanich Inlet.
- A colleague who drove-around instead remarked that I had made a smart choice, in avoiding traffic and delays.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jan 3, 2008 18:14:29 GMT -8
re Research items:
- you may want to send a forum "Personal-Message" to member "Old Tar". He likely has first-hand knowledge of this route's history.
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Post by Scott on Jan 3, 2008 18:23:00 GMT -8
I've taken the route 2 times. Once was just to travel on the ferry and route since I'd never done it before. The second time was a "shortcut" to Swartz Bay, and also because I had a SailPass and it didn't cost me anything;)
A few hours of a few days of the year, I suppose the ferry is the ONLY link between Victoria and the rest of the Island. That's when the Malahat is closed because of snow or accident. But is that reason enough to keep the ferry around? Apparently "bike groups" have been somewhat instrumental in lobbying to keep the ferry around. I don't have a direct source for this info, I just recall reading something about this a few years ago. If you did a search on a newspaper database you'd probably find something about that.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2008 18:50:30 GMT -8
Every time there is a discussion in the local(Victoria) newspaper about shutting this route down----an accident usually closes the Malahat for a few hours. The discussion ends for awhile and a few years down the road, people are talking about shutting down the route again.
It is a lovely little route. At one time, the cost of riding the ferry was just a little more than the cost to drive around from Brentwood to Mill Bay. Then there is the wear and tear on your vehicle to be considered, expecially the brakes.
We had guests from another country in town and we wanted to do something different.
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Nick
Voyager 
Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078 
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Post by Nick on Jan 3, 2008 19:07:10 GMT -8
This is just information from my personal experiences, not any hard facts. I take that ferry quite often, just about whenever I go up island. I find that during the winter, it isn't utilized all that much, except when the weather is bad then ridership increases as people don't want to drive the malahat. Typically, the "rush hour" departures are the busiest, particularly the 2:25 and 4:45 sailings from Brentwood. During the summer, it seems that this route is used quite frequently. I would say that most of the sailings during the summer are full or leave people behind. Ridership seems to be increasing in the recent history. Also, a little economics to play with. That ship has a tiny Gardner diesel engine, producing all of 152 horsepower. It takes fuel in tiny sips, less than most trucks. The 4 person crew is on 12 hour shifts so there is no changeover during the day, similar to the northern ships, except there are only 3 shifts. Also, there is no terminal staff, since all terminal operations are done by the ship's crew, and the administration is done out of SWB. All of this makes that run very cheap to operate. Now, a little bit of history. The run was created back in the 1920's, when the malahat was literally no more than a dirt track. It was truly at least 2 hours to get to Mill Bay, in good conditions. It was started with the small wooden ship, MV Cascade. She had a colourful life, Sinking at her berth in 1923. She went in for a major refit in 1933 during which she had her steam engine replaced with a Gardner diesel, and emerged as the MV Brentwood. Coast Ferries Ltd. Bought the run in the 1940's and put the Brentwood through another series of engine changes. She was finally retired in 1956 when the brand new, steel hulled MV Mill Bay was constructed. More information can be found here: www.britishcolumbia.com/guestwriters/?id=10I really like the Mill Bay - Brentwood Bay route, and even though there is a viable alternative with the Malahat highway, a lot of people, especially with older, not so reliable cars, prefer to take the ferry. I think that this run is here to stay for quite a while still. |
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Post by royalroadscaptain on Jan 3, 2008 19:10:26 GMT -8
Oh yes, the cyclists. Thank you for the heads up. Here's what I found: gvcc.bc.ca/advocacy/millbayferry.shtmlI'm gonna call these guys up. It seems amazing to me that a group who is seemingly so "peripheral" (politically speaking) can yield so much clout. I also heard that some time ago a group of people in Brentwood Bay formed some kind of a choir. The Brentwood Bay Fairies or something like that. I can't find any info on that. Does anyone know about this? |
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Post by royalroadscaptain on Jan 3, 2008 19:17:04 GMT -8
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Post by Scott on Jan 3, 2008 19:26:42 GMT -8
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Post by royalroadscaptain on Jan 3, 2008 19:35:10 GMT -8
Sweet! It's now in my files. I'm going to start shuttling back and forth Mill Bay and Brentwood Bay next week.
I actually remember going over to Brentwood Bay once (the only time I've taken this route). January 5th 2004. Hell of a snowstorm on the island. The Malahat was closed and it was my very first day of work at UVic. She saved me!
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Jan 3, 2008 23:01:49 GMT -8
Just a little bit from me to add here. You wouldn't expect me to keep quiet on a thread about me, would you  This is actually a personal message that member Old Tar/Cascade sent to me when I was doing inquiries about the Mill Bay. I sort of facetiously asked if she ever had a sister, but it seems that the Mill Bay is a one of a kind... a true maverick. (One reason why I chose the name  ) |
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Post by royalroadscaptain on Jan 17, 2008 20:18:14 GMT -8
Since I started this thread I have made a few trips back and forth as a passenger and I thought I'd share some observations. I'm curious to hear any thoughts, disagreements, etc. In speaking informally with the captain I learned from him that indeed the route is much more popular in the summer. This is interesting because I used to think of this route as an alternative to winter driving. To be sure on snowy days the route gets crowded, but those are exceptions in our balmy climate. On my few trips I noticed that out of the 18 cars she can normally take, she generally gets the visit of anywhere from 8 to 12-13 vehicles. I took note of the models, apparent year of make, condition of tires, etc. While I'm not one for statistics I'd say that about 90-95% of the vehicles onboard are either very good or extremely good and new. I'm talking about shiny SUVs, strong pick-ups, nice sedans, etc. But guess what? About two thirds or so of those vehicles are driven by older people (60+), often travelling with a spouse. Arguably, and I could be wrong, it's folks who aren't comfortable driving the Malahat at today's high speeds. It's not about the cars, but the drivers. I saw a few tourists as well. But not the type of tourists we get out here in the summer, but more like "visitors from out of town" getting a tour from a local. People who, at least for the day, are not in a hurry. It's interesting how the bridge of the MV Mill Bay has the route's slogan "Vancouver Island's most beautiful shortcut" painted on. Given that so many of her passengers start to line up early (thus defeating any time gain one has by not driving), it seems to me that the keyword in the slogan is "beautiful" rather that "shortcut." Maybe they could adopt a new slogan: "An alternative way of making island time"  |
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Post by Northern Exploration on Jan 17, 2008 20:26:56 GMT -8
I took the Mill Bay ferry all of twice in all the times I landed at Swartz Bay and then drove the Malahat to Duncan. Mind you I loved driving the Malahat and it was usually in a rented Explorer or Denali if I was lucky. At gas prices now those would not be my choice even though they were free upgrades. One of the drawbacks to the ferry is that you have to put cash out of your pocket to do it versus the hidden costs of driving around just sucking gas out of your tank. One is a conscious cost and one is only there if you think about it. If BC Ferries could compare average time and cost of the crossing vs. the wear and tear, gas and time of driving and come out ahead, that would be a very good marketing point. The average that Revenue Canada now uses is between $0.37 to $0.43. But that may have gone up since I have used that figure. So if someone knew the distance that figure would be easy to come up with.
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Post by kerryssi on Feb 7, 2008 16:55:48 GMT -8
The ferry corporation would love to shut down the Mill bay. The ship is quite old and they do not want to go to the expense of replacing it. In my opinion they could do quite well if they had a larger ship there. I think a lot more people would use it if they were sure of getting on. It would also be a great tourist route from Victoria, over the "hat" and back via the Mill Bay. It would be a shorter version of the Victoria/Duncan/Crofton/Vesuvius/Fulford/SWB and back to Victoria trip.
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Post by roeco on Dec 27, 2008 19:30:15 GMT -8
Their has been serious discussions about contracting this route out. That would probably be a wise decision as Im sure a private operator could do much better than BC Ferries does. If BC Ferries leased the new operator a ship at a reasonable rate and the costs were fairly low such as the current "Mv Mill Bay" operation then it may just be self sufficent. And a question why can no other ship fit into the Mill Bay or Brentwood berths?? Are they smaller...I know their were talks of replacing the Mill Bay with the Klitsa is she the same size??
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Nick
Voyager
Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078
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Post by Nick on Dec 27, 2008 19:39:29 GMT -8
The berths on the Mill Bay - Brentwood run are smaller than all the other berths in the system, because the Mill Bay is narrower on the ends than all the other ships. There was talk a while ago of using the Klitsa, but the berths would have to be modified to accommodate her. I don't think this would involve much more than moving the floating leads out a little, but that's just a guess on my part.
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Post by hullnumbers on Oct 30, 2010 23:00:15 GMT -8
WHAT  , YOUR JOKING. The Milly (Short for MV Mill Bay) is going to be retired in 18 months. I didn't know that. That little ferries been around a long time that I have grown a liking to that ship. She's one of the oldest ships in BC and the best little boat thats run on the coast. She never failed us in service. It's going to be a sad day to see her go  Has the public been told and who planned her retirement date. |
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Post by hullnumbers on Oct 30, 2010 23:13:52 GMT -8
Also, will a replacement ferry take over the route?
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Post by Scott (Former Account) on Oct 31, 2010 0:31:17 GMT -8
I have no clue where this 18 months has come from...  The Mill Bay will be retired in Spring 2011. It will be replaced by the Klitsa. |
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 31, 2010 6:41:17 GMT -8
I have no clue where this 18 months has come from... The Mill Bay will be retired in Spring 2011. It will be replaced by the Klitsa. I posted that 18-month timeline earlier in this thread. See my new post #12 on the "Term 3 thread", for the contradictory dates regarding the Mill Bay retirement. ferriesbc.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=bcferriesnews&thread=7649&page=1....it all depends on which section of the Efficiencies-report that you read. If you read them both, then you'll expect 2 different retirement dates. ;D So Spring 2012 would be approx 18 months from now.....if that is to be believed.  |
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 31, 2010 6:48:03 GMT -8
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Post by hullnumbers on Oct 31, 2010 10:43:18 GMT -8
Sorry, I wasn't around to look.
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Neil
Voyager
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Post by Neil on Oct 31, 2010 14:00:24 GMT -8
Sorry, I wasn't around to look. A big, scary Hallowe'en BOO! to people who only read things that are posted while they're online. |
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Post by Low Light Mike on Dec 11, 2010 9:32:00 GMT -8
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)
, YOUR JOKING. The Milly (Short for MV Mill Bay) is going to be retired in 18 months. I didn't know that. That little ferries been around a long time that I have grown a liking to that ship. She's one of the oldest ships in BC and the best little boat thats run on the coast. She never failed us in service. It's going to be a sad day to see her go 
