BC Ferries to possibly cut Horsehoe Bay - Nanaimo run

[spm2013]

...

[MIPS]

What crazy drug are they smoking??

[Infrequent Poster]

Yep they will get rid of horshoebay to nanaimo route to save money. Make everyone go through tsawassen, where they will promptly cut service to save more money. Then finally they will increase fares, to save more money?

[ssiguy]

But they would still have to keep Horseshoe Bay open due to the ferries from Bowen Island and the Sunshine Coast?

This government is running BC ferries into the ground but the Island is NDP territory more than anywhere else in the province and so it doesn't matter to Clark.

[Klazu]

In only take the ferry during holiday weekends and of course then they are all full. Not sure how full they are during normal weekday? Sounds like a crazy plan, though.

[Metro-One]

Is this a joke or something? This has to be one of the worst ideas I have heard in a long time for BC.

[Pinion]

North shore is not allowed public transportation of any kind apparently. Besides buses that show up occasionally if the driver feels like it.

[WarrenC12]

Tough decisions need to be made to keep BC Ferries going without massive price increases. I fully support this, and closing one of the Nanaimo terminals.

[KPELLY]

This plan is ridiculous. Nanaimo needs two terminals. Departure bay doesn't have the road capacity for 3-4 times the trucks, and duke point's terminal doesn't have near the capacity required for the amount of foot passengers that currently go through Departure Bay. They just spent 100s of millions upgrading the Departure Bay terminal in the last few years, so I would assume that they would close Duke point, but that route is mostly trucks, I'm going to guess Nanaimo isnt going to be too happy with 3-4 times the trucks going through the city, also making the duke point connector completely useless.

The Massey Tunnel would be even more of an absolute disaster. Currently, the Departure Bay Horseshoe Bay route is used for personal vehicles going to Vancouver, Burnaby, West and North Van, and the Duke Point, Tsawwassen route is mostly used for trucks and people going to Surrey and further East or to the States. This plan would force all Vancouver, West/North Van bound traffic through the Massey Tunnel and the Burnaby traffic either through the tunnel or over Pattullo or Alex Fraser. You think the tunnel traffic is bad now, if they go through with this the 10 lane Massey replacement might actually be warranted.

Another stupid part of that plan is the Departure Bay, Horseshoe Bay run is the shortest and most convenient route, 1 hour 35 minutes vs. 2 hours for the Duke Point, Tsawwassen route, and a Tsawwassen, Departure Bay route would be 2 hours as well.

[Jebby]

Privatize BC Ferries.

[moosejaw]

build a bridge

[csbvan]

What the?! Isn't this by far one of the busiest routes? Confusing strategy. Has there been any recent news about the downtown to downtown private passenger ferry? It seems more necessary now

[WarrenC12]

A new Massey bridge and the SFPR will alleviate most of these concerns.

Nanaimo needing 2 terminals is laughable.

[Canadian Mind]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

A new Massey bridge and the SFPR will alleviate most of these concerns.

Nanaimo needing 2 terminals is laughable.

It's not about Naniamo needing two terminals. It's about the Island as a whole. Both the terminals are well used, even on week days.

The only way the rational makes sense to me, is if they close one terminal on each side to further increase the demand-supply ratio, which they could then use to justify even higher prices. I don't think they'll make or lose money in the long run by closing a terminal on each end, but i do think the resulting reduction in operating costs will lead to a higher profit margin.

The other side of this is that, even if you make all your runs on time, the Horseshoe-Departure Bay run is a significantly shorter route to Vancouver than the Duke Point-Tsawassen route. The crossing is 30 minutes shorter; and, if you are driving from any point north of Departure Bay on the island you save 15 - 45 minutes driving depending on traffic.

[Procrastinational]

Originally Posted by Canadian Mind

It's not about Naniamo needing two terminals. It's about the Island as a whole. Both the terminals are well used, even on week days.

The only way the rational makes sense to me, is if they close one terminal on each side to further increase the demand-supply ratio, which they could then use to justify even higher prices. I don't think they'll make or lose money in the long run by closing a terminal on each end, but i do think the resulting reduction in operating costs will lead to a higher profit margin.

The other side of this is that, even if you make all your runs on time, the Horseshoe-Departure Bay run is a significantly shorter route to Vancouver than the Duke Point-Tsawassen route. The crossing is 30 minutes shorter; and, if you are driving from any point north of Departure Bay on the island you save 15 - 45 minutes driving depending on traffic.

I believe the crossing time for a Horseshoe Bay to Duke Point run would be nearly identical to the current run to Departure Bay.

In the long term, I don't think it makes sense not to consolidate all Nanaimo ferry traffic to Duke Point.
Having a few hundred cars come off a ferry right next to downtown makes the traffic in that area a mess. There just isn't the road infrastructure to support it.

So upgrade the Duke Point terminal and maybe add an express bus service right to downtown if it doesn't exist already, and reroute the Horseshoe Bay run into Duke Point.

I really just don't think having two separate terminals relatively close together is justified when one could do the job without cutting any runs, and with significant cost savings.
By long term I'm talking 10-20 years though.

[Canadian Mind]

Originally Posted by Procrastinational

I believe the crossing time for a Horseshoe Bay to Duke Point run would be nearly identical to the current run to Departure Bay.

In the long term, I don't think it makes sense not to consolidate all Nanaimo ferry traffic to Duke Point.
Having a few hundred cars come off a ferry right next to downtown makes the traffic in that area a mess. There just isn't the road infrastructure to support it.

So upgrade the Duke Point terminal and maybe add an express bus service right to downtown if it doesn't exist already, and reroute the Horseshoe Bay run into Duke Point.

I really just don't think having two separate terminals relatively close together is justified when one could do the job without cutting any runs, and with significant cost savings.
By long term I'm talking 10-20 years though.

I think Horseshoe-Duke Point would be a good compromise. I think closing Horseshoe for Naniamo-bound crossings is insane though. Even with the single Island landing, I'd still use Horseshoe Bay whenever I'm empty, and Tsawassen when I'm towing.

[KPELLY]

The Horseshoe Bay, Departure Bay route is the second busiest route (Tsawwassen/Victoria is busiest).

You may think its laughable, but they way they are set up now, they do need two terminals, one mega terminal in Nanaimo would make sense, but neither of the current terminals are close to being able to handle double the vehicles/pedestrians. One mega terminal at duke point could be a solution (they have the room to expand), but if it would cost $200 million to upgrade Horseshoe Bay terminal, the cost to upgrade Duke Point would be much higher. Departure Bay doesn't have much room to expand any more than it just was a few years ago.

[spm2013]

...

[trofirhen]

If this goes through as planned, Horseshoe Bay will always be necessary for the Bowen Island and Langdale runs (though it will have a big expressway hill going to what will again become a village, and businesses there, like Troll's restaurant, will suffer greatly).
The Tsawassen terminal will need to be enlarged, no doubt, if it is to take on all the former Horsehoe Bay><Departure Bay traffic,
and Duke Point will need enlarging, too, as the mid-Island crossing now docks there.
What will happen to Departure Bay is the big question, I think.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

If this goes through as planned,

it's not being planned. They are just throwing out some ideas out there.

that being said, one of the north van mayors said last night that this might be ok with their city/district because the ferry puts a lot of strain on the bridges.