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Post by hwy19man on Aug 27, 2022 3:17:12 GMT -8
I get Route 30 was running hours late from Thursday night delays running well into Friday.
But what caused all the cancellations for Friday afternoon?
Was it the Thursday night crew should have also been the Friday night crew? From www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-ferries-police-incident-duke-point-tsawwassen-delays-1.6563071Marshall said there were 33 staff on each ship, so 66 ferry workers were stuck on overtime and could not work Friday.
"Last night, we had crews work excessively long hours — up 16 hours on two of our vessels — so we have had to stand those crew members down for today because, of course, they need the necessary rest," she said.
"We're not able to backfill that many people on such short notice."
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Post by WettCoast on Aug 27, 2022 20:10:33 GMT -8
I get Route 30 was running hours late from Thursday night delays running well into Friday. But what caused all the cancellations for Friday afternoon? Was it the Thursday night crew should have also been the Friday night crew? The crew working the PM shift on Friday would have been the same crew as the one on Thursday. I gather their normal 10 hour shift ended up being something like a 16 hour shift and the rest break between shifts would not have met the standard requirement for the minimum length of that break. I assume there is a requirement for crews to have a rest break that allows them 8 hours of sleep? Now why both vessels were affected by this is a little less clear to me. The single berth at Duke is probably the main factor.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Sept 2, 2022 14:29:52 GMT -8
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Sept 2, 2022 19:16:53 GMT -8
On the Quadra route, it's a ten minute crossing, with twenty minutes spent in dock. So, clearly, in loading and unloading a 50 car ferry, there's some time that can be cut from the schedule to allow 'shuttling'. At Gabriola though, the schedule is a bit tighter, so I don't know how much quicker things can be done. BC Ferries is extremely conservative these days with regard to operating speeds, approaches to docks, and loading/unloading. Ponderous might be a fair description. Maybe they need to spend some time with their colleagues at WSF to get some tips on how to turn things around faster. Although... maybe we should leave the Cathlamet incident out of that discussion.
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 3, 2022 5:42:39 GMT -8
BC Ferries is extremely conservative these days with regard to operating speeds, approaches to docks, and loading/unloading. Ponderous might be a fair description. Maybe they need to spend some time with their colleagues at WSF to get some tips on how to turn things around faster. WSF, particularly on the San Juan Islands route, is having a lot of trouble keeping the schedule this year - even beyond cancelled sailings and mechanical breakdowns, which have also plagued the operation. The schedule was written for a 17kt service speed except for the inter-island ferry, of course. I've heard they've been mandated to slow down to 15kts or so for fuel savings, so the current schedule has been tough to maintain, even without the afore-mentioned issues. As a result, the delay notifications are pretty much a daily occurrence now. If 15kts is the new target speed for efficiency, then clearly a new schedule needs to be written.
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Post by Olympic Ferries on Sept 3, 2022 12:11:06 GMT -8
BC Ferries is extremely conservative these days with regard to operating speeds, approaches to docks, and loading/unloading. Ponderous might be a fair description. Maybe they need to spend some time with their colleagues at WSF to get some tips on how to turn things around faster. WSF, particularly on the San Juan Islands route, is having a lot of trouble keeping the schedule this year - even beyond cancelled sailings and mechanical breakdowns, which have also plagued the operation. The schedule was written for a 17kt service speed except for the inter-island ferry, of course. I've heard they've been mandated to slow down to 15kts or so for fuel savings, so the current schedule has been tough to maintain, even without the afore-mentioned issues. As a result, the delay notifications are pretty much a daily occurrence now. If 15kts is the new target speed for efficiency, then clearly a new schedule needs to be written. The #2 schedule is particularly tight this summer season as compared to last season with an additional stop added at Lopez eastbound returning from Orcas at 0845 in the AM, which has caused some complications there.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Sept 3, 2022 21:10:40 GMT -8
BC Ferries is extremely conservative these days with regard to operating speeds, approaches to docks, and loading/unloading. Ponderous might be a fair description. Maybe they need to spend some time with their colleagues at WSF to get some tips on how to turn things around faster. Tell that to Coastal Class captain because Coastal Renaissance on route 30 while we left 15 minutes behind schedule but dock at the time normal schedule said we would dock and this was in April of 2022.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Sept 3, 2022 21:17:21 GMT -8
BC Ferries is extremely conservative these days with regard to operating speeds, approaches to docks, and loading/unloading. Ponderous might be a fair description. Maybe they need to spend some time with their colleagues at WSF to get some tips on how to turn things around faster. Tell that to Coastal Class captain because Coastal Renaissance on route 30 while we left 15 minutes behind schedule but dock at the time normal schedule said we would dock and this was in April of 2022. On a two hour route, depending on tides, wind, and captain's prerogative, there's an opportunity to make up time. On a short crossing to Quadra... not so much.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Sept 3, 2022 21:18:54 GMT -8
Tell that to Coastal Class captain because Coastal Renaissance on route 30 while we left 15 minutes behind schedule but dock at the time normal schedule said we would dock and this was in April of 2022. On a two hour route, depending on tides, wind, and captain's prerogative, there's an opportunity to make up time. On a short crossing to Quadra... not so much. True. Evan on Spirit Class, I have been on that made up time.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Sept 6, 2022 11:44:47 GMT -8
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Sept 6, 2022 11:46:58 GMT -8
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Sept 7, 2022 14:19:26 GMT -8
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Sept 9, 2022 18:40:53 GMT -8
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Post by 1foot2ships on Nov 7, 2022 13:14:17 GMT -8
BBF: you ok? Your last post was in Sept. Not like you to take a holiday. Hope everything is alright... Hey guys, some terrible weather with winds, freak snow, high winds again... but also two observations in the last two days: For this one, I think it was fantastic the Lions made these arrangements. Good on their marketing dept. to come up with this idea. Not anybody's fault the weather didn't co-operate yesterday for these fans. Still, a missed opportunity however, b/c the start of the game could have easily been delayed to accommodate these late arrival fans.
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Post by 1foot2ships on Nov 7, 2022 13:27:52 GMT -8
Second observation:
Today, there are high winds in Georgia Straight. Rt.2 is tied-up in dock. The am boats didn't even try and now all the pm boats have been cancelled as well.
While this is going on, Rt.30 and Rt.1 are operating as normal.
1. How can this be the case? 2. For those first sailing people who are already at the terminal, how come BCF doesn't do the sensible thing and just sail to the opposite terminal? Surely DB-TSW and HSB-DP/ HSB-SWB would be better than praying at the terminal or driving to another terminal to wait at the back of that line!
Sometimes one terminal is perfectly fine when the other one is at mother nature's mercy eh?
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Post by Dane on Nov 7, 2022 13:43:37 GMT -8
Still, a missed opportunity however, b/c the start of the game could have easily been delayed to accommodate these late arrival fans. LOL, no, definitely not. National broadcast agreement, travel arrangements for other, much larger groups. Event & police overtime. I actually used that deal, though, and happily Rte 1 was good - great experience.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Nov 7, 2022 15:06:22 GMT -8
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Nov 7, 2022 21:13:20 GMT -8
I was marvelling earlier today at BC Ferries' conservatism in cancelling service when most weather stations reported, and forecasted, pretty minimal weather conditions. Nanaimo and Vancouver weren't expecting anything too difficult. Still... Squamish was expecting high winds from the north, and those winds just funnel down the wind tunnel of Howe Sound. Right now, Environment Canada is reporting wind at White Rock from the ENE at 10 kmh. I live in White Rock, and I can confirm that it's near blizzard conditions, with snow falling almost horizontally in high wind gusts. We live on a coast with mountains framing deep inlets, and local conditions can be extreme. It does seem that BC Ferries can be overly timid... but they have passengers and vessels and docks to protect, and they're keeping more up to date with local conditions than we laypeople are.
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Post by 1foot2ships on Nov 8, 2022 6:27:01 GMT -8
OK, so then the problem is heavy winds in Howe Sound. Credit to them for putting safety first, but can anybody explain why Rt.03 is allowed to sail?
Rt.03 was operating normally yd and is scheduled to run normally td as well. Rt.02 cancelled trip 1, trip 2 from both sides late last night and trip 3, 4, 5.... are pending again.
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Post by Curtis on Nov 8, 2022 12:00:21 GMT -8
Double whammy for the Queen of Surrey this morning: Mechanical problems with the #1 engine. On top of that there was a medical emergency involving a crew member. Surrey is being moved to Berth 2 as I type this. Meanwhile the Oak Bay is being redeployed to Route 3 to deal with the delays.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Nov 8, 2022 12:42:46 GMT -8
Double whammy for the Queen of Surrey this morning: Mechanical problems with the #1 engine. On top of that there was a medical emergency involving a crew member. Surrey is being moved to Berth 2 as I type this. Meanwhile the Oak Bay is being redeployed to Route 3 to deal with the delays. ...and service is cancelled for the rest of the day on route six. Would it be melodramatic to say that our ferry system is in crisis? Probably, but when you add up constant mechanical failures across the board, crew shortages, weather cancellations, and now, weight limitations on brand new vessels, it seems that we have a terribly undependable system.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Nov 8, 2022 13:06:05 GMT -8
Double whammy for the Queen of Surrey this morning: Mechanical problems with the #1 engine. On top of that there was a medical emergency involving a crew member. Surrey is being moved to Berth 2 as I type this. Meanwhile the Oak Bay is being redeployed to Route 3 to deal with the delays. ...and service is cancelled for the rest of the day on route six. Would it be melodramatic to say that our ferry system is in crisis? Probably, but when you add up constant mechanical failures across the board, crew shortages, weather cancellations, and now, weight limitations on brand new vessels, it seems that we have a terribly undependable system. At least they have water taxi in place on route 6. I personally think BC Ferries did the right thing Queen of Oak Bay on route 3 today because she more needed there due a ferry being the only way to Sunshine Coast.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Nov 8, 2022 14:07:07 GMT -8
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Post by 1foot2ships on Nov 9, 2022 2:45:10 GMT -8
BBF: I agree with you also, but don't give BCF so much credit. QOB was sitting in dock tied-up with full crew waiting for improved weather to sail rt.02. That the QSurrey broke down at same time just represents the correct reaction to a sudden problem. If they didn't make that adjustment, it would have given all the critics another example to bookmark BCF's failures.
Not sure if my information is right, but QSurrey broke (or bent) their camshaft!
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Nov 9, 2022 21:38:42 GMT -8
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