Quote:
Originally Posted by Kisai
My line of thinking is that replacing the ferry with a bridge should be a community-driven reason, not a bureaucratic one. One could offer the suggestion that the province would pay for a bridge if the ferry was at the end of it's service life (as in the case of the Glade ferry) , but the politicians instead frame it as a cost-saving with no consideration of the damage to tourism or environmental impact. |
You can't look at it just as a ferry end of life. The ferries on these routes are completely interchangeable.
In fact, during peak season on busy weekends, there is an extra ferry that does a special Langdale -> Horseshoe Bay -> Departure Bay run, filling in the busiest times.
The Glade ferry is very location specific (being tied down by cables and all). But almost any of the C class vessels can do the run (and any that will be built).
And being end of life is relative. Many of the recently decommissioned ferries were put to pasture, not because they were too old, but because we outgrew them. A boat can survive a long time. The MV Coho has been in service almost daily since 1959. The original Sidney Class ferries were in service for 40 years and retired because they were too small. The V class ferries were retired because they were too slow. The Queen of New Westminster is 51 years old and recently refit (and one of my favorites to ride).
The Queen of Surrey was built in 1981 (actually the youngest of all C-class). She was refit in 2007 and with proper maintenance it has another 20 years in her.
As such, I think you have to look at the whole picture. You can make a capital expenditure like a ferry last a long time and get a lot of use out of it. But that continued operation and maintenance does cost money. So I think you can't just wait around for the ferry to die. You need to be ready and have a plan in place (so BC ferries can know what to do with the boat as it can run any other run). There might be a cost savings in building a road and reassigning the ferry before it craps out (putting off the purchase for a new ferry on another route).
In the end, I think a bridge is overkill. With all the problems on other, much more important roads, building a bridge to an enclave is spit in the face to a lot of people. We still don't have a 4 lane highway to connect us with the rest of the country (that many people every year die on because it is so bad). A second bridge over lake Okanagan is more needed. And the Malahat? Don't get me started. If you want to build a bridge, build one across the Saanich inlet to bypass the Malahat.
A simple road is good enough. If highway 4 is good enough to connect to Port Alberni, and the Pacific Rim, I don't see why the Sunshine coast needs anything better than that.
Build a tolerable road through Squamish and keep the ferry service. Just use a smaller ferry with fewer sailings at a higher charge. Best of both worlds.
Victoria has kept the Mill Bay ferry.