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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 11, 2016 9:00:03 GMT -8
The capilano is currently doing a trip to langdale... I saw it on bcf departures, it was listed for a 1030pm departure. I thought it was a mistake but marine traffic shows her almost there. Did the final sailing from HSB sell out and they chose the Cap to take the last few? Interesting choice. Ever seen this before? It is a regular enough occurrence to see the 'Capilano do an end of day trip on the Langdale route. Not every week, but enough to see that this is the normal solution when there's enough left over traffic for a Cap sized ship.
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John H
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Post by John H on Nov 13, 2016 18:23:05 GMT -8
Hopefully anyone who needs to travel tonight has reservations. By 18:20 tonight, Departure Bay and Langdale appear to have sold out for the night. On Twitter, Departure Bay was announced as full at 1656, and Langdale at 1716, but since then they tweeted to stay tuned for an extra sailing for Langdale. The last sailings from Duke Point and Tsawwassen (to Swartz Bay) are filling up fast, 78% and 60% respectively.
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Post by Dane on Nov 13, 2016 18:53:55 GMT -8
I'm very curious to read ridership statistics for this year. It has got to be more than the initial five-ish percent increase that was publicized earlier this year now.
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Post by Olympic Ferries on Nov 13, 2016 20:39:53 GMT -8
Looks like on the "Langdale to Horseshoe Bay" page, the Q. Cap will be making an 23:15 departure from Langdale this evening, and its already more than 3/4 full. How interesting.
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Post by Dane on Nov 13, 2016 20:42:29 GMT -8
840pm (Nov 13), both Nanaimo terminals sold out for the last sailing. So far no extra sailing, but if both are full hopefully something will be added.
Langdale to Horseshoe Bay sold out with an added trip by the Capilano; initially it was the Surrey and then it was cancelled so the load factor must not have been high enough.
Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay sold out, even with the scheduled 10pm.
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Post by Mike on Nov 13, 2016 20:45:23 GMT -8
Looks like on the "Langdale to Horseshoe Bay" page, the Q. Cap will be making an 23:15 departure from Langdale this evening, and its already more than 3/4 full. How interesting. Well, bear in mind she only carries 100 cars compared to the Queen of Surrey's 360, so it won't take much to fill up the space.
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Post by WettCoast on Nov 13, 2016 21:06:09 GMT -8
Normally, on a 'holiday weekend', BC Ferries will schedule quite a number of extra sailings. But Remembrance Day does not really fit the into the mould, probably because it floats and is often just a day off in the middle of the week. But this year it fell on a Friday making this a three day weekend and it seems reasonable to expect a fair bit of extra traffic. As far as I can see, they had no extra sailings scheduled on any route other than route 1. Have they 'missed the boat' on this one?
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Post by Dane on Nov 13, 2016 21:13:08 GMT -8
Route 1 would have been able to absorb a fourth boat, as well. I did four sailings this weekend (my military unit has freedom of the city in the mainland so we do Remembrance Day there) and all were absolutely nuts. On Friday morning from Swartz Bay at 645am (ish) the 7, 8, and 9 were full.
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Post by WettCoast on Nov 13, 2016 21:30:56 GMT -8
Route 1 had all four boats in service today with a total of 13 sailings. How will they cope next year with a Spirit out for like 8 or 9 months?
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Post by Dane on Nov 13, 2016 21:38:02 GMT -8
Obviously I missed that. On Friday it was three, at least when I was around (7am to Van and 2pm back. New West was tied up).
Edit - looks like the New West did sail Friday with a 4pm from the Mainland. Nonetheless my erred point from earlier continues, all day service from the New West would have been valuable and had full Boats I'm sure.
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John H
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Post by John H on Nov 13, 2016 22:01:18 GMT -8
It's hard to plan far ahead for sporting events in Vancouver, but in addition to the long weekend was a Canucks game and a BC Lions playoff game, so maybe they should have anticipated more traffic than they did.
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Ferryman
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Post by Ferryman on Nov 14, 2016 1:12:00 GMT -8
Route 9 was also completely full today coming back from the islands, even coming close to its full 'A' pax license. That's probably unheard of at this time of year for that run.
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Post by WettCoast on Nov 14, 2016 9:09:36 GMT -8
Route 9 was also completely full today coming back from the islands, even coming close to its full 'A' pax license. That's probably unheard of at this time of year for that run. So when the Nanaimo is gone will they have just one Salish class vessel in service on a weekend such as this? A Salish class vessel has significantly lower car capacity (& passenger too, I believe) than is the case currently with the old 'B class' vessels. On the other hand, when two Salish class vessels are in service there would be expanded capacity. But will that happen on a long weekend in November?
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Post by Kahn_C on Nov 14, 2016 19:51:41 GMT -8
Comox - Powell River was a large over load last night too, left an hour late because they had to call in 4 more crew to bump up the license, and left an easy 30+ cars behind... Admittedly the cancelling of the 3:15/5:15 didn't help, but sometimes those Salish boats are going to be very full.
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Post by Dane on Nov 14, 2016 22:35:11 GMT -8
I wonder if that solution in Comox could be more sailings? It's a rather lackadaisical schedule now, and if the boats filled presumably it isn't a money losing proposition.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Nov 14, 2016 22:49:30 GMT -8
I think BC Ferries really underestimated traffic this long weekend, although, admittedly, there isn't a lot of recent experience with a Friday Remembrance Day. As usual, their pages supposedly warning travellers about expected busy periods were way off.
I know that people here on Hornby were surprised at the number of visitors, despite nasty weather. Ferries were shuttling at times. Sunday afternoon, the Kahloke was berthed for a while at the Spit, as a very high tide and a howling gale made sailing challenging.
I predict that the Salish vessels are going to be very unpopular in busy periods. The small passenger cabin and limited vehicle capacity, particularly in the 'off season' in the Gulf Islands where only one vessel is operating, is going to cause real problems.
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Koastal Karl
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Post by Koastal Karl on Nov 15, 2016 9:15:03 GMT -8
I was on the Burnaby Friday night for a round trip and it was pretty quiet! The 8:45pm return sailing from Powell River I counted 6 cars and probably less than 30 passengers and that was a Friday night but I guess the long weekend already started so that could be why it was pretty empty!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Aug 3, 2017 15:14:41 GMT -8
It is becoming increasingly obvious that route 30 is way over capacity in the summer, there has been a possible wait (greater than 80% full) on the 10:45pm sailing from Tsawwassen tonight since about half past 2pm. I know they reserve a huge amount of the route 30 deck space, but I can't imagine being a standby showing up at 2:00 and being told I wouldn't get on until the 10:45, this is ridiculous and its only Thursday... Hopefully when the time comes to replace the C's and QoNW BC Ferries will be thinking about 3 boat service on route 30. An extra major over what the fleet has right now would certainly be very welcome!
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Aug 3, 2017 17:50:07 GMT -8
It is becoming increasingly obvious that route 30 is way over capacity in the summer, there has been a possible wait (greater than 80% full) on the 10:45pm sailing from Tsawwassen tonight since about half past 2pm. I know they reserve a huge amount of the route 30 deck space, but I can't imagine being a standby showing up at 2:00 and being told I wouldn't get on until the 10:45, this is ridiculous and its only Thursday... Hopefully when the time comes to replace the C's and QoNW BC Ferries will be thinking about 3 boat service on route 30. An extra major over what the fleet has right now would certainly be very welcome! You beat me to it... I've been observing the daily loads, and I was going to say the same thing. Two and a half hours between sailings doesn't work anymore in summer. I suspect traffic on this route is growing faster than routes one or two, and overloads are chronic. There was at least one summer when route thirty had eleven round trips, and it's now necessary to go back to that to properly serve the economy of Vancouver Island.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Aug 3, 2017 18:34:27 GMT -8
Just a further note to my previous post...
June is the most recent month they have traffic totals for. Route 30 is up 8% over 2016, route one 6%, route two, 3%.
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Post by WettCoast on Aug 3, 2017 20:39:50 GMT -8
There was at least one summer when route thirty had eleven round trips, and it's now necessary to go back to that to properly serve the economy of Vancouver Island. To do this they would need another large vessel which they don't currently have. Or do you see them reassigning a vessel currently serving on another route?
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Aug 3, 2017 21:24:23 GMT -8
There was at least one summer when route thirty had eleven round trips, and it's now necessary to go back to that to properly serve the economy of Vancouver Island. To do this they would need another large vessel which they don't currently have. Or do you see them reassigning a vessel currently serving on another route? That's the current problem. The summer(s) where route 30 had three boat service, I believe route two only had two. During many years of Liberal rule, the number of 'major' vessels has remained constant. There would have to be an injection of capital to change that.
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Post by bigcountry on Aug 4, 2017 0:26:10 GMT -8
I think it's safe to say that we can all agree there is no easy solution... however since I can't sleep since it's way to warm in my house tonight I decided to do some brain storming and this is the best I could come up with...
-Tie up the Queen of New West in Berth 1 or 2 at Tsawwassen and use her as a third boat on Route 30 -Coastal Renaissance relocates to Tsawwassen and is used as the 4th boat on Route 1 -Queen of Cowichan becomes primary Route 2 Departure Bay vessel -Queen of Coquitlam relocates to Departure Bay to be 3rd boat on route 2. HOWEVER Horseshoe Bay-Langdale still borrows her to do the 5:50pm commuter sailing -Bowen Queen is based out of Langdale and operates as 2nd boat on Horseshoe Bay-Langdale and Bowen Island runs (help with afternoon traffic and hopefully improve the Capilano's on time performance)
schedules are as follows (Saturday schedules would be different however I haven't come up with those yet)
Tsawwassen Duke Point
5:15 (QoA) 5:15 (CI) 7:45 (CI) 7:45 (QoA) 9:00 (QoNW) 10:15 (CI) 10:15 (QoA) 11:30 (QoNW) 12:45 (CI) 12:45 (QoA) 2:00 (QoNW) 3:15 (CI) 3:15 (QoA) 4:30 (QoNW) 5:45 (CI) 5:45 (QoA) 7:00 (QoNW) 8:15 (CI) 8:15 (QoA) 9:30 (QoNW) 10:45 (CI) 10:45 (QoA)
BI HB
5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:35 9:05 10:35 11:05 11:40 12:10 12:45 2:35 3:10 3:45 4:15 4:45 5:15 5:20 (BQ) 5:50 (BQ) 5:50 6:20 6:20 (BQ) 6:50 (BQ) 6:50 7:20 7:50 8:15 8:40 9:10 9:40 10:05
Departure Bay Horseshoe Bay
6:20 (COW) 6:20 (OB)
7:00 (COQ) 8:30 (COW)
8:30 (OB) 9:10 (COQ)
10:40 (COW) 10:40 (OB)
11:20 (COQ) 12:50 (COW)
12:50 (OB) 1:30 (COQ)
3:10 (COW) 3:10 (OB)
3:40 (C0Q) 5:20 (COW)
5:20 (OB) 7:30 (OB)
7:30 (COW) 8:15 (COQ)
9:30 (OB) 9:30 (COW)
Lang HB
6:20 7:25 8:30 9:40 10:50 12:00 11:30 (BQ) 12:40 (BQ) 1:05 2:15 1:50 (BQ) 3:00 (BQ) 3:25 4:30 4:10 (BQ) 5:50 (COQ) 5:30 6:35 7:00 (COQ) 7:30 (BQ) 7:35 8:40 9:40 10:35
thoughts??? anyone have a better idea?
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Post by hwy19man on Aug 4, 2017 1:20:16 GMT -8
It is becoming increasingly obvious that route 30 is way over capacity in the summer, there has been a possible wait (greater than 80% full) on the 10:45pm sailing from Tsawwassen tonight since about half past 2pm. I know they reserve a huge amount of the route 30 deck space, but I can't imagine being a standby showing up at 2:00 and being told I wouldn't get on until the 10:45, this is ridiculous and its only Thursday... Hopefully when the time comes to replace the C's and QoNW BC Ferries will be thinking about 3 boat service on route 30. An extra major over what the fleet has right now would certainly be very welcome! You beat me to it... I've been observing the daily loads, and I was going to say the same thing. Two and a half hours between sailings doesn't work anymore in summer. I suspect traffic on this route is growing faster than routes one or two, and overloads are chronic.
There was at least one summer when route thirty had eleven round trips, and it's now necessary to go back to that to properly serve the economy of Vancouver Island. The multiple overloads on route 30 have defintiely sent traffic to route 2. There were two waits at HSB on Thursday and the Oak Bay did an extra trip at 2345h which was at 40% capacity. Through out this summer season there has been usually one wait at HSB all afternoon and into the early evening Sunday to Friday. The 1855h and 1930h sailings on Tuesdays and Wednesday are usually at 70% or greater. The non-commercial overheight traffic has been going to HSB once people see that there are nearly two waits at TSA. The problem has been exacerbated with the mechanical problems on the Nanaimo. The through fare option to SSI through SWB has increased sailing waits on route 1 which spills over to route 30 and subsequently route 2..
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Post by hwy19man on Aug 4, 2017 2:00:06 GMT -8
I think it's safe to say that we can all agree there is no easy solution... however since I can't sleep since it's way to warm in my house tonight I decided to do some brain storming and this is the best I could come up with...
-Tie up the Queen of New West in Berth 1 or 2 at Tsawwassen and use her as a third boat on Route 30 -Coastal Renaissance relocates to Tsawwassen and is used as the 4th boat on Route 1 -Queen of Cowichan becomes primary Route 2 Departure Bay vessel -Queen of Coquitlam relocates to Departure Bay to be 3rd boat on route 2. HOWEVER Horseshoe Bay-Langdale still borrows her to do the 5:50pm commuter sailing -Bowen Queen is based out of Langdale and operates as 2nd boat on Horseshoe Bay-Langdale and Bowen Island runs (help with afternoon traffic and hopefully improve the Capilano's on time performance)
thoughts??? anyone have a better idea? Good ideas, but, the Bowen Queen on route 3 would not be sufficient as multiple overloads would occurr. The Bowen Queen's vehicle capacity is 20% in comparison to the Coquitlam.
The third vessel on route 30 would be better to start at 630h to allow for four round trips. The final round trip would be at 2130h from TSA and 0000h from Duke Point. The times would be better as it would avoid inevitable delays and confusion for passengers at 900h, 1400h, and 1900h when route one vessels depart at those times.
Another way would be to leave the vessels where they are positioned and increase the sailings on route 2. The Cowichan should do its 745h/955h on Tuesday and Wednesdays, 2105h/2305h on Fridays (possibly on Thursdays and Mondays), and 1640h/1855h on Saturdays.
The next step, hypothetically speaking, could be to hire additional crew and have the COQ on Fridays leave Langdale at 1855h as it does on Sundays and then do 1955/2155h on route 2 both days with a 2355h trip back to Langdale. This would mean having the COQ start at 750h on Fridays and 1010h on Sundays to allow for two sets of crew get their full hours.
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