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Originally Posted by Procrastinational
I agree with all of this. It's definitely easier to get to Tsawassen for the majority of the lower mainland by car or transit, and both the infrastructure leading to it, as well as the terminal itself can handle much, much more traffic than Horseshoe bay can.
The one thing I'll say though is that there are usually two 620 buses waiting for you if you are coming off of a ferry from Swartz Bay. Generally this is adequate, but on particularly busy days, they fill up and you can end up waiting another half hour or so for the next bus.
I do still think it makes some sense to have a terminal at Horseshoe bay, considering it connects directly to the Trans Canada highway. It would be weird to have the highway just end where the terminal currently is.
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I agree that there should still be car service from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. But I think it is worth looking at making it more efficient by scaling it back and getting slightly smaller ferries for the route, then using Duke Point as the primary Nanaimo route. Then scale that route up with more ferries during the peak travel times. That part of the original NDP plan might be worth looking at again (just without money sunk into fast ferries).
The main problem with the Duke point run is the wait between ferries. 2 and 1/2 hours is a long wait if you don't make a specific sailing. It is so long that it is discouraging to take it. A 2 sailing wait on the other routes can be a shorter wait when ferries sail an hour apart. If you are going someplace between, like Duncan, even though it is closer to Duke Point, the trip through Victoria is often shorter just from the timing of the sailings and waits.
But of course I wouldn't implement it for years without infrastructure upgrades to the highways around the terminals. You need a new Massey crossing and upgrades to highway 17 (interchanges at Tsawwassen, 52, and 56 st would be nice, but they seem to be doing something right now, like adding more lanes) and the Duke point highway would need a couple more lanes.
BC Ferries should also look at passenger only service from Downtown Vancouver if this new private ferry falls through. A 1 hour crossing from Nanaimo to Downtown would be shorter than my transit commute to downtown from home. Nanaimo would be like a suburb of Vancouver.
During the summer I frequently see 3 buses leaving Tsawwassen. But I've never had any real issues with buses to/from Tsawwassen. I've had many with Horseshoe Bay.
I was waiting for a ride that was late the other weekend at Tsawwassesn and there were 2 buses picking people up. One was going regular via Ladner, the other direct to Bridgeport. The direct bus filled up quickly and became full, yet about 15 people stayed behind when there was plenty of room on the via Ladner bus. They were still waiting when I left. I don't know why they were so dumb not to get on a bus that spends an extra 10 minutes going through Ladner and chose to wait at least 30 minutes (for a bus that will for sure go through Ladner anyway). Some people; probably the same kind of people going to Metrotown that wait for the Expo Line train instead of getting on a Millennium line train.
Maybe everyone talking smack about busing to Tsawwassen haven't done it since Canada line. You used to have to get on a suburban bus downtown and take it to Ladner. Then if memory serves me correctly, way back you would have to change in Ladner to the 640 to get to the ferry. I used to go from my home in Burnaby to Scott Road because the 640 took you to the ferries without bus to bus transfer (the worst transfer). Then they introduced the 620 that also went to the ferries, but you had to take the 98 B line to the airport exchange. So if you were downtown it was a bit of a crap shoot. Do you take a 6xx and transfer to a possibly full 620 in Ladner, or do you take a packed 98 BLine to the airport and hope it makes it there in time for the transfer? Too many things could go wrong.
So much better since the Canada Line.