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Post by Dane on Jul 11, 2020 14:50:51 GMT -8
This really needs to stop. I find tiered boarding models based on residency just ridiculous, and a perfect example of "I'm more important than everyone else." If this issue is so pressing, create a reservation system.
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Post by penderdiver on Jul 11, 2020 18:14:32 GMT -8
Route 9A is finally operating as of July 16th - although in a limited capacity. Having the Salish Raven sit idle while the Salish Orca was 100% full for weeks on end and Gulf Islanders were stuck led to many MLA calls and calls to the BC Ferry Commission as to why they agreed to no 9A for the entire summer. I suspect the pressure was enough they relented and added service. While not quite at contracted levels of service, it's closer.
I suspect long weekends will be bad (as always), but otherwise it should be possible to sail from TSW to the SGI without having to reserve 3 weeks in advance now.
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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 Jul 16, 2020 19:37:40 GMT -8
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Post by arrrrmatey on Jul 23, 2020 13:04:53 GMT -8
The Coquitlam is providing extra trips on routes 2 & 3 again today. Same as Friday and Sunday but ~two hours earlier. Which is great for those of us who use this route occasionally, and can never manage to get a reservation. I hope they also do this next Thursday!
What’s weird is that it is not on the schedule, no service notice and no Twitter or anything.
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Post by hwy19man on Jul 24, 2020 2:57:08 GMT -8
The Coquitlam is providing extra trips on routes 2 & 3 again today. Same as Friday and Sunday but ~two hours earlier. Which is great for those of us who use this route occasionally, and can never manage to get a reservation. I hope they also do this next Thursday!
What’s weird is that it is not on the schedule, no service notice and no Twitter or anything. That is good to see the additional sailings, hopefully the same happens on Monday too.
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Post by paulvanb on Jul 24, 2020 9:41:21 GMT -8
The Coquitlam is providing extra trips on routes 2 & 3 again today. Same as Friday and Sunday but ~two hours earlier. Which is great for those of us who use this route occasionally, and can never manage to get a reservation. I hope they also do this next Thursday!
What’s weird is that it is not on the schedule, no service notice and no Twitter or anything. That is good to see the additional sailings, hopefully the same happens on Monday too.I think it needs to be happening on an ongoing basis daily. I posted the other day while waiting for the Queen of Capilano that the Oak Bay was stuffed full.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jul 24, 2020 10:22:38 GMT -8
The Coquitlam is providing extra trips on routes 2 & 3 again today. Same as Friday and Sunday but ~two hours earlier. Which is great for those of us who use this route occasionally, and can never manage to get a reservation. I hope they also do this next Thursday!
What’s weird is that it is not on the schedule, no service notice and no Twitter or anything. That is good to see the additional sailings, hopefully the same happens on Monday too.I haven’t seen a schedule change for routes 2 and 3 about Queen of Coquitlam sailing on Thursdays or Mondays.
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Post by hwy19man on Jul 28, 2020 5:09:56 GMT -8
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,171
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Post by Neil on Jul 28, 2020 19:15:55 GMT -8
www.coastreporter.net/news/local-news/bc-ferries-wants-resident-priority-on-route-3-ended-soon-as-possible-1.24177458I know this story has been posted elsewhere, but I wanted to address one comment by Mark Collins that I found almost insulting to people's intelligence. I get the difficulty that BC Ferries is facing in dealing with this pandemic, and I think they've done the best they can with the resources they're given by the province. Now they're having to tell various regions that service and infrastructure upgrades simply aren't going to be possible. As Collins says, putting off capital investment might serve a current imperative, but it just causes more headaches and costs down the road. Ships don't get any younger, and even at the best of times, the BC Ferries fleet is older than most other ferry operations in the 'first' world, and demand, outside pandemics, is growing. What rankled me, though, was Collins' assertion that capacity, over all, is currently above need. We're also seeing advisories on the BC Ferries website that people should try to travel at less popular times, like the crack of dawn, or after 10pm on some routes, when there's the 'excess capacity' that figures into Collins' calculations.. Really? That's like Translink telling my daughter who lives in north Surrey and regularly has packed buses pass her by, that she should maybe start work at 8pm instead of 9am, because then there will be lots of space. They could make the case that the bus system has lots of excess capacity, and the problem is with people being too rigid with their schedules. People need to travel when they need to travel. The busiest transportation systems in the world have excess capacity in one direction at some times. It isn't solved by pretending that the public can adapt their schedules to suit the operator's needs.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Aug 16, 2020 15:21:37 GMT -8
BC Ferries, in my opinion, is doing terrible at preventing the spread of COVID 19 because I haven’t been ask the four COVID 19 questions expect do you have mask, on ferry trips over the summer. I am kinda shocked that Dr. Bonnie Henry hasn’t called out BC Ferries on there lack of COVID 19 questions that are required or cleaning of vessels.
Update: Coastal Celebration crew are doing a better job at preventing the spread of COVID 19 because they just cleaned high touch areas.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,171
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Post by Neil on Aug 17, 2020 20:11:31 GMT -8
Both directions route one, Departure Bay and Duke Point all overloaded for tonight's final sailings. Traffic has overtaken BC Ferries ability to carry it, as people resume normal travel even as COVID19 numbers spike. BC Ferries and WSF didn't expect summer travel levels like this when things shut down back in March. No villains here, just the difficulty of navigating a health crisis that has impacted so many lives and livelihoods.
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Post by northwesterner on Aug 17, 2020 22:21:28 GMT -8
BC Ferries and WSF didn't expect summer travel levels like this when things shut down back in March. No villains here, just the difficulty of navigating a health crisis that has impacted so many lives and livelihoods. I mean, there was some optimistic hope back in March that we could have something resembling a normal summer ... Clearly, from a pandemic basis, that didn't materialize. This summer is far from normal. But I'm stunned that both agencies were unable to plan for and execute an operational plan that takes into account a middle ground of "getting as much of the economy, including some tourism, operating when and where it is safe to do so." Particularly WSF, an agency controlled by the governor who has executed a great phased reopening strategy for the economy. Tonight in California, not exactly a pinnacle of virus prevention these days, I encountered rush hour traffic on my drive home from the beach (don't judge, it was 100 at my apartment this afternoon) that was about 85% of the way to "normal rush hour."
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Post by whalebreath on Aug 18, 2020 4:33:37 GMT -8
BC Ferries, in my opinion, is doing terrible at preventing the spread of COVID 19 All of a piece with the abject idiocy that has been BC Ferry's 'management' MO since Day One. Like most of the world you're mistaken- in fact fomite transmission is not an area of concern and much effort is being wasted-read this. www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30561-2/fulltext
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Post by dofd on Aug 20, 2020 1:41:08 GMT -8
Well maybe going to Sonora, thinking which ferry? Leaving from Tsawwassen. (the name know one can say or type).
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,171
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Post by Neil on Aug 20, 2020 8:36:04 GMT -8
Well maybe going to Sonora, thinking which ferry? Leaving from Tsawwassen. (the name know one can say or type). Good luck getting to Sonora Island by ferry...
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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 Aug 20, 2020 11:04:24 GMT -8
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Aug 20, 2020 16:19:27 GMT -8
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2020 10:43:45 GMT -8
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Post by dofd on Aug 23, 2020 1:03:15 GMT -8
Well maybe going to Sonora, thinking which ferry? Leaving from Tsawwassen. (the name know one can say or type). Good luck getting to Sonora Island by ferry... Is the Sonora boat on a sched, not a ferry. I know it does not have cars.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,171
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Post by Neil on Aug 23, 2020 8:47:49 GMT -8
Good luck getting to Sonora Island by ferry... Is the Sonora boat on a sched, not a ferry. I know it does not have cars. No idea what you're referring to.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2020 13:02:30 GMT -8
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Post by 1foot2ships on Aug 30, 2020 21:41:18 GMT -8
i dont know if anybody will agree with me, but im kind of getting sick of hearing how BCF is suffering from lower traffic. while this was surely the case in the spring and early summer, i think traffic td has largely rebounded to levels they were 1-yr ago despite the loss of tour buses, WA, AB, and AK visitors. demand is always going to be greatest on thur/fri & sun and theyve added some sailings for this on the big four, but on both sides of any weekend, there are still travellers being left behind even at day end. i havent been keeping track but this was the first time ive seen it happen to all three island terminals. whats more surprising (to me at least) was this happened quite early around 1830. is this finally sufficient proof for them to put into service the idle boats they have sitting in dock? even if its only for 2-3 more wks? im sure the people in line wouldnt protest, the laid off crew wouldnt mind, and the gov't wouldnt object to lessening the EI draw either. just curious if there are any insiders here who could provide insight. (im assuming there are seasonal staff plus maybe some casual crews sitting at home doing nothing right now?)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2020 22:03:01 GMT -8
i dont know if anybody will agree with me, but im kind of getting sick of hearing how BCF is suffering from lower traffic. while this was surely the case in the spring and early summer, i think traffic td has largely rebounded to levels they were 1-yr ago despite the loss of tour buses, WA, AB, and AK visitors. demand is always going to be greatest on thur/fri & sun and theyve added some sailings for this on the big four, but on both sides of any weekend, there are still travellers being left behind even at day end. i havent been keeping track but this was the first time ive seen it happen to all three island terminals. whats more surprising (to me at least) was this happened quite early around 1830. is this finally sufficient proof for them to put into service the idle boats they have sitting in dock? even if its only for 2-3 more wks? im sure the people in line wouldnt protest, the laid off crew wouldnt mind, and the gov't wouldnt object to lessening the EI draw either. just curious if there are any insiders here who could provide insight. (im assuming there are seasonal staff plus maybe some casual crews sitting at home doing nothing right now?) I agree, there is no reason why BCF can not run the New West full time. She is only running M-F Which is stupid They need her on weekends esp on Sundays. Renaissance is staying put, I wonder what passengers on rt 2 think when they see this ship tied up in DB All summer long. If the ship is not used in the summer BCF Should consider hiding her at Deas. Now with this mask requirement there is no reason why not too go back 100%. But then again BCF did not hire these extra workers this summer and then there is the contract between BCF the BCFMW Union.
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Post by Departure Bay on Aug 31, 2020 8:11:54 GMT -8
"Renaissance is staying put, I wonder what passengers on rt 2 think when they see this ship tied up in DB All summer long. If the ship is not used in the summer BCF Should consider hiding her at Deas."
Selfishly, I hope they don't consider this - getting to see the Coastal Renaissance sitting at Departure Bay greatly helps to keep my spirits up.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,171
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Post by Neil on Aug 31, 2020 8:43:40 GMT -8
i dont know if anybody will agree with me, but im kind of getting sick of hearing how BCF is suffering from lower traffic. while this was surely the case in the spring and early summer, i think traffic td has largely rebounded to levels they were 1-yr ago despite the loss of tour buses, WA, AB, and AK visitors. demand is always going to be greatest on thur/fri & sun and theyve added some sailings for this on the big four, but on both sides of any weekend, there are still travellers being left behind even at day end. i havent been keeping track but this was the first time ive seen it happen to all three island terminals. whats more surprising (to me at least) was this happened quite early around 1830. is this finally sufficient proof for them to put into service the idle boats they have sitting in dock? even if its only for 2-3 more wks? im sure the people in line wouldnt protest, the laid off crew wouldnt mind, and the gov't wouldnt object to lessening the EI draw either. just curious if there are any insiders here who could provide insight. (im assuming there are seasonal staff plus maybe some casual crews sitting at home doing nothing right now?) I agree, there is no reason why BCF can not run the New West full time. She is only running M-F Which is stupid They need her on weekends esp on Sundays. Renaissance is staying put, I wonder what passengers on rt 2 think when they see this ship tied up in DB All summer long. If the ship is not used in the summer BCF Should consider hiding her at Deas. Now with this mask requirement there is no reason why not too go back 100%. But then again BCF did not hire these extra workers this summer and then there is the contract between BCF the BCFMW Union. They can't possibly run at 100% when they don't have the personnel. There was summer hiring that wasn't done this year, back when there was no certainty about how traffic levels were going to rebound. WSF has the same problem.
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