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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2015 16:47:02 GMT -8
Except for Tuesday and Wednesday in peak periods, which is a status quo schedule and a decrease in capacity with the smaller vessel.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Nov 29, 2015 22:24:14 GMT -8
Anybody see any pubic response to the revised schedule proposals? There was an article in the Gulf Islands Driftwood, but it was by subscription only.
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Post by roeco on Dec 7, 2015 9:58:09 GMT -8
Would it not make sense to have one vessel.do an Island circuit...such as Mayne Queen doing a Mayne to Galiano,Pender,Saturna,Long Harbour Then have all vehicles transfer at Mayne. And have a few trips during the day going to Swartz Bay (3-4 trips a day from all the Islands).And Long Harbour trips would connect at Mayne for Tsawassen. That way It will give Island connectivity with Every Gulf Island able to access every other Island including Swartz Bay and Tsawassen.
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Post by northwesterner on Dec 7, 2015 10:44:48 GMT -8
Would it not make sense to have one vessel.do an Island circuit...such as Mayne Queen doing a Mayne to Galiano,Pender,Saturna,Long Harbour Then have all vehicles transfer at Mayne. And have a few trips during the day going to Swartz Bay (3-4 trips a day from all the Islands).And Long Harbour trips would connect at Mayne for Tsawassen. That way It will give Island connectivity with Every Gulf Island able to access every other Island including Swartz Bay and Tsawassen. It would not make sense. Making a full circuit like that would be extremely time consuming, and the additional time penalty of the transfer at Mayne for many of the islands would make it an all day adventure to go one way. If you read the methodology they used to approach this process, you would see the assumptions they are running on it go through this redesign. They are quite robust and use optimization models to write the schedule based on the assumptions and values of the residents. You are trying to throw darts at a wall and hope they stick.
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Post by Mike C on Dec 7, 2015 15:54:56 GMT -8
Would it not make sense to have one vessel.do an Island circuit...such as Mayne Queen doing a Mayne to Galiano,Pender,Saturna,Long Harbour Then have all vehicles transfer at Mayne. And have a few trips during the day going to Swartz Bay (3-4 trips a day from all the Islands).And Long Harbour trips would connect at Mayne for Tsawassen. That way It will give Island connectivity with Every Gulf Island able to access every other Island including Swartz Bay and Tsawassen. Northwesterner has done a pretty good job making the case for direct connections. Such direct connections, I would add, are vital to each island's vitality to accessing work/services in Victoria within a reasonable period of time. Increases in travel time are bad for the island economy. In addition to this, there is a concern with capacity. While such a proposal would moderately increase capacity for inter-island travel, it would dramatically decrease available capacity for service to Victoria, except for Mayne Island. Available space is already a problem most (all?) weekends on Route 9, as well as most of the time in the summer.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2015 16:20:58 GMT -8
Northwesterner has done a pretty good job making the case for direct connections. Such direct connections, I would add, are vital to each island's vitality to accessing work/services in Victoria within a reasonable period of time. Increases in travel time are bad for the island economy. In addition to this, there is a concern with capacity. While such a proposal would moderately increase capacity for inter-island travel, it would dramatically decrease available capacity for service to Victoria, except for Mayne Island. Available space is already a problem most (all?) weekends on Route 9, as well as most of the time in the summer. One of the criteria of this redesign was doing away (at least in part) with the current hub-and-spoke system, and increasing point-to point services. It was clear from day one that an inter-island based schedule was off the table.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 8, 2016 19:37:35 GMT -8
The 2017 SGI Schedule re-design gets released on July 11th. Island Tides seems to have seen a draft of the schedule, and has an article on those changes, available for viewing on Page 3 of their July 14th addition which you can find at THIS LINK.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2016 7:19:59 GMT -8
Thanks, but It'll be nice when the actual schedules are out.
The BCF website on this (http://www.bcferries.com/about/publicconsultation2/sgi-consultation.html) has not been updated yet.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 11, 2016 10:52:09 GMT -8
Schedules announced: The preamble: Schedules here: H E R EI await Karl's feedback on the result.
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Post by WettCoast on Jul 11, 2016 12:18:45 GMT -8
Schedules announced: The preamble: Schedules here: H E R EIt would be interesting to see a layout for each ship's service day on each day of the week during each season. I assume the MQ & QCumber will both continue to be based at SWB, and that one Salish will be based at Long Harbour & the other (when operating) at Tsawwasen.
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Post by Dane on Jul 11, 2016 17:39:37 GMT -8
This post contains nothing that hasn't already been said.
But I'll say it anyways.
It is interesting to see the fairly great increase in lift for Route 9 group sailings in peak and shoulder. I'm relatively unfamiliar with Route 5 scheduled to comment on those, although a quick trip through the web presence of some of the Islands seems o suggests the changes are generally positive - that said it can be hard to wade through the visceral hate of BCFS to find meaningful commentary.
With a few Route 9 employees participating on the Board I'd be curious to know how frequently the Nanaimo sails on an A license? All summer? Every weekend? I honestly have no idea, and like others, I think the substantial weak point of the Salish class could be passenger cabin capacity.
Time for an open deck trip on Route 9A, soon, too!
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Post by northwesterner on Jul 11, 2016 18:23:14 GMT -8
It is interesting to see the fairly great increase in lift for Route 9 group sailings in peak and shoulder. I'm relatively unfamiliar with Route 5 scheduled to comment on those, although a quick trip through the web presence of some of the Islands seems o suggests the changes are generally positive - that said it can be hard to wade through the visceral hate of BCFS to find meaningful commentary. Last year, I wrote this: I flipped through the new schedules for a minute earlier today. On a whole, they seem very simple to use. The ferries take legible patterns throughout the week, with the weekdays and weekends (including Fridays) split into distinct schedules to adjust for different usage patterns. The most important thing here is what I noted a year ago. By starting from scratch and creating a legible schedule, BCF has somewhere to go with these schedules. Maybe in a year (or a few months) the FAC will point out some sailings that just aren't working, and important trips that are no longer achievable. This schedule is simple enough that adjustments can be made. The old schedule, with a different pattern for all seven days of the week was impossible. It was hard to use, and impossible to improve upon. This may be one of the few wins BCF has accomplished in the last decade.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Jul 11, 2016 19:24:45 GMT -8
I disagree with northwesterner that the new schedules have gotten any more uniform through the week. Many departure points still have separate schedules for Monday through Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I don't think that this is necessarily a problem for residents, although it may be confusing for visitors. As I understood the feedback through the consultation process, the concerns were more with regard to travel at specific times of the day and week, rather than uniformity. It's been many years since Gulf Islands schedules were simple, and I think people have gotten used to that.
With funding issues being so prominent, I don't really have a problem with any route being fine tuned to the day. My complaint is when schedules appear with all sorts of little symbols and exceptions that you have to sort out. Eventually, BC Ferries is going to have to give travellers the option of typing in a date and getting the schedule they need for that day- no asterisks or little half moons.
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Post by Dane on Jul 11, 2016 19:52:32 GMT -8
But Neil, the last official use of the Dogwood is in BC Ferries' print schedules
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Post by northwesterner on Jul 11, 2016 20:59:38 GMT -8
The schedule pattern with a separate schedule for Thursdays seems to only appear during peak. The different sailing times, at a glance, seem to be confined to afternoon/early evening sailings. Looks like the threw a bone to vacationers who take off from "town" after work Thursday to head to the islands for the weekend.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Apr 27, 2017 21:53:15 GMT -8
I was trying to sort out the upcoming summer schedule in terms of outings on the weekends, and I ran into a real puzzler. Most likely someone will look at this and show me in a second where I screwed up, but here's the source of my confusion.
On Sundays, the Queen of Nanaimo leaves Long Harbour at 6:20am and sails to Tsawwassen via Otter Bay, arriving at 8:35. She leaves Tsawwassen at 9:15, leaving Sturdies Bay at 10:20, and Village Bay at 10:55. She arrives at Otter Bay at 11:20. There's where it gets odd; the only departure I see that makes sense is at 11:30, to Swartz Bay. There is no sailing listed from Swartz Bay to Long Harbour around then, although there is one at 8:55am.
So... where is the 'Nanaimo after that 11:20 arrival at Otter Bay? Does she really do a run to Swartz Bay, which would make for the first Tsawwassen-Gulf Islands-Swartz Bay run since the Queen of Sidney did it in the mid '60s? And does she then deadhead over to Long Harbour for her 2:45 run to Tsawwassen?
I've probably missed something obvious. I'm ready with my d'oh!.
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Post by roeco on Apr 28, 2017 9:38:55 GMT -8
Tsawassen-Gulf Islands-Swartz Bay... that would be interesting. Didnt a V Class stop their in the 80's or 90's at Mayne Island in between Swartz Bay and Tsawassen.
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Post by northwesterner on Apr 29, 2017 9:29:05 GMT -8
I was trying to sort out the upcoming summer schedule in terms of outings on the weekends, and I ran into a real puzzler. Most likely someone will look at this and show me in a second where I screwed up, but here's the source of my confusion. On Sundays, the Queen of Nanaimo leaves Long Harbour at 6:20am and sails to Tsawwassen via Otter Bay, arriving at 8:35. She leaves Tsawwassen at 9:15, leaving Sturdies Bay at 10:20, and Village Bay at 10:55. She arrives at Otter Bay at 11:20. There's where it gets odd; the only departure I see that makes sense is at 11:30, to Swartz Bay. There is no sailing listed from Swartz Bay to Long Harbour around then, although there is one at 8:55am. So... where is the ' Nanaimo after that 11:20 arrival at Otter Bay? Does she really do a run to Swartz Bay, which would make for the first Tsawwassen-Gulf Islands-Swartz Bay run since the Queen of Sidney did it in the mid '60s? And does she then deadhead over to Long Harbour for her 2:45 run to Tsawwassen? I've probably missed something obvious. I'm ready with my d'oh!. I went through the schedule last night. It is unclear to me, as well, what is happening with the schedule. *Is 10 minutes from 1120-1130 sufficient at Otter Bay to unload and load any waiting traffic? *Note that the Salish Eagle has a direct Tsawassen - Long Harbor sailing arriving at 1155, which certainly means the Queen of Nanaimo isn't also going to be heading that way.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Apr 29, 2017 22:03:42 GMT -8
I was trying to sort out the upcoming summer schedule in terms of outings on the weekends, and I ran into a real puzzler. Most likely someone will look at this and show me in a second where I screwed up, but here's the source of my confusion. On Sundays, the Queen of Nanaimo leaves Long Harbour at 6:20am and sails to Tsawwassen via Otter Bay, arriving at 8:35. She leaves Tsawwassen at 9:15, leaving Sturdies Bay at 10:20, and Village Bay at 10:55. She arrives at Otter Bay at 11:20. There's where it gets odd; the only departure I see that makes sense is at 11:30, to Swartz Bay. There is no sailing listed from Swartz Bay to Long Harbour around then, although there is one at 8:55am. So... where is the ' Nanaimo after that 11:20 arrival at Otter Bay? Does she really do a run to Swartz Bay, which would make for the first Tsawwassen-Gulf Islands-Swartz Bay run since the Queen of Sidney did it in the mid '60s? And does she then deadhead over to Long Harbour for her 2:45 run to Tsawwassen? I've probably missed something obvious. I'm ready with my d'oh!. I went through the schedule last night. It is unclear to me, as well, what is happening with the schedule. *Is 10 minutes from 1120-1130 sufficient at Otter Bay to unload and load any waiting traffic? *Note that the Salish Eagle has a direct Tsawassen - Long Harbor sailing arriving at 1155, which certainly means the Queen of Nanaimo isn't also going to be heading that way.Thanks, northwesterner, for your note, confirming that I hadn't just dropped my credentials as a schedule nerd. Not that those are credentials that count for much in the real world, but... anyway. You're right, the ' Eagle is at Long Harbour around noon, which means the ' Nanaimo can't be there. Maybe I should send BC Ferries a note asking about this. Although it kind of looks like the ' Nanaimo sails from Otter Bay to Swartz Bay at 11:30, there definitely is no listed sailing from Swartz Bay that would get her back to Long Harbour.
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Post by ferryfanyvr on Apr 30, 2017 8:46:32 GMT -8
I went through the schedule last night. It is unclear to me, as well, what is happening with the schedule. *Is 10 minutes from 1120-1130 sufficient at Otter Bay to unload and load any waiting traffic? *Note that the Salish Eagle has a direct Tsawassen - Long Harbor sailing arriving at 1155, which certainly means the Queen of Nanaimo isn't also going to be heading that way.Thanks, northwesterner, for your note, confirming that I hadn't just dropped my credentials as a schedule nerd. Not that those are credentials that count for much in the real world, but... anyway. You're right, the ' Eagle is at Long Harbour around noon, which means the ' Nanaimo can't be there. Maybe I should send BC Ferries a note asking about this. Although it kind of looks like the ' Nanaimo sails from Otter Bay to Swartz Bay at 11:30, there definitely is no listed sailing from Swartz Bay that would get her back to Long Harbour. I just called BC Ferries to ask them which vessel is being used on the 0855 sailing from Swartz Bay to Long Harbour on Sundays and holiday Mondays. I was told at first that there are NO SAILINGS between those 2 terminals. After I convinced the agent that there is indeed such a sailing in the schedule, she looked in to it and told me it's going to be the Queen of Nanaimo. Since the Nanaimo has a 0915 departure from Tsawwassen on these days, this isn't possible. I guess we'll have to wait and see.... edit: I have now emailed BC Ferries customer service about this. Answer pending (hopefully)
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Post by Cascadian Transport on Apr 30, 2017 12:20:46 GMT -8
I just called BC Ferries to ask them which vessel is being used on the 0855 sailing from Swartz Bay to Long Harbour on Sundays and holiday Mondays. I was told at first that there are NO SAILINGS between those 2 terminals. After I convinced the agent that there is indeed such a sailing in the schedule, she looked in to it and told me it's going to be the Queen of Nanaimo. Since the Nanaimo has a 0915 departure from Tsawwassen on these days, this isn't possible. I guess we'll have to wait and see.... edit: I have now emailed BC Ferries customer service about this. Answer pending (hopefully) I just spent the last hour looking into this as well, and I can now say, I'm thoroughly confused. As far as I can tell, there are NO vessels that can make this sailing. -It can't be a Route 5 boat, because there is a 9:15 from SWB to PEN and GAL, and a 10:00 from SWB to MAY and SAT- In other words, both those boats are occupied. -It can't be the Nanaimo, because she has a 9:15 from TSA to GAL, MAY, and PEN. -It can't be the Eagle, because she has a 10:25 from TSA to SSI. -I even checked to see if it could possibly be the Skeena, but she has a 9:50 out of Fulford, so it can't be her either... I am also unable to find anything in either of the public consultation documents ( 2017 update, nor the Original) that mentions anything about this sailing. Unless the Queen of Richmond is doing it, it seems as if that 8:55 doesn't exist...
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Post by ferryfanyvr on Apr 30, 2017 18:17:08 GMT -8
BC Ferries responded quite promptly to my email and apologized for the fact that I was given the wrong info when I phoned...that sailing from Swartz Bay to Long Harbour is apparently operated by the Mayne Queen. Neil, maybe you can email customerservice@bcferries.com regarding your original question and see if they have an answer.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Apr 30, 2017 20:35:54 GMT -8
BC Ferries responded quite promptly to my email and apologized for the fact that I was given the wrong info when I phoned...that sailing from Swartz Bay to Long Harbour is apparently operated by the Mayne Queen. Neil, maybe you can email customerservice@bcferries.com regarding your original question and see if they have an answer. If the Mayne Queen and the Queen of Cumberland are the two route five vessels, as usual, that response from BC Ferries makes no sense. As Snowy Ferries mentioned, there is a 9:15 sailing to Pender, and a 10:00 sailing to Mayne, and the Mayne Queen would have to be doing one of those. So does this mean that the Bowen Queen will also be helping out? Can't see that happening. The Sunday morning sailing to Long Harbour has been a summer schedule feature for many years, but in the past I think I've been able to figure out what vessel did it. So now, two summer Sunday mysteries; the whereabouts of the Queen of Nanaimo around noonish, and that odd Long Harbour jaunt. Maybe I will send an email to ask about both. Or maybe our Saltspring-savvy Ferryman Chris has some insight.
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Post by yak on May 2, 2017 15:52:24 GMT -8
BC Ferries responded quite promptly to my email and apologized for the fact that I was given the wrong info when I phoned...that sailing from Swartz Bay to Long Harbour is apparently operated by the Mayne Queen. Neil, maybe you can email customerservice@bcferries.com regarding your original question and see if they have an answer. If the Mayne Queen and the Queen of Cumberland are the two route five vessels, as usual, that response from BC Ferries makes no sense. As Snowy Ferries mentioned, there is a 9:15 sailing to Pender, and a 10:00 sailing to Mayne, and the Mayne Queen would have to be doing one of those. So does this mean that the Bowen Queen will also be helping out? Can't see that happening. The Sunday morning sailing to Long Harbour has been a summer schedule feature for many years, but in the past I think I've been able to figure out what vessel did it. So now, two summer Sunday mysteries; the whereabouts of the Queen of Nanaimo around noonish, and that odd Long Harbour jaunt. Maybe I will send an email to ask about both. Or maybe our Saltspring-savvy Ferryman Chris has some insight. My understanding is that it will be the Queen of Nanaimo; we're trying to connect the dots ourselves right now.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on May 2, 2017 16:21:26 GMT -8
If the Mayne Queen and the Queen of Cumberland are the two route five vessels, as usual, that response from BC Ferries makes no sense. As Snowy Ferries mentioned, there is a 9:15 sailing to Pender, and a 10:00 sailing to Mayne, and the Mayne Queen would have to be doing one of those. So does this mean that the Bowen Queen will also be helping out? Can't see that happening. The Sunday morning sailing to Long Harbour has been a summer schedule feature for many years, but in the past I think I've been able to figure out what vessel did it. So now, two summer Sunday mysteries; the whereabouts of the Queen of Nanaimo around noonish, and that odd Long Harbour jaunt. Maybe I will send an email to ask about both. Or maybe our Saltspring-savvy Ferryman Chris has some insight. My understanding is that it will be the Queen of Nanaimo; we're trying to connect the dots ourselves right now. Mystery solved, thanks to 'ferryfanyvr' contacting BC Ferries customer service. Since his question to them, the schedule has been changed, and it now shows the Swartz Bay to Long Harbour trip leaving at 12:30 pm, not 8:55 am. So, yes, that means The Queen of Nanaimo does a Tsawwassen- Gulf Islands- Swartz Bay run, then a jaunt to Long Harbour before her mid-afternoon sailing eastbound. This is assuming, of course, that she's still the Long Harbour based vessel this summer. I hope BC Ferries appreciated the West Coast Ferries Forum helping them with their schedule.
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