Unionized B.C. Transit drivers are vowing to stage protests during cruise-ship season at Ogden Point if Transit buses are chartered to carry visitors downtown.
The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority is negotiating with applicants to supply either buses alone, buses with drivers or just drivers for the shuttle service between Ogden Point and the city centre.
The model would see the harbour authority manage the service under a one-year contract to try out technologies that move passengers efficiently and in an environmentally friendly way.
A decision is expected within 10 days, said authority president Curtis Grad, adding more than one applicant may be chosen.
Transit is one of the applicants, submitting a proposal for the harbour authority to charter six buses without drivers during the upcoming cruise-ship season.
But members of Canadian Auto Workers Local 333 are concerned because unionized Transit drivers are not part of the plan. “We firmly believe that is our work,” said Ben Williams, Local 333 president.
The union will file a grievance if Transit buses are used without Transit drivers, he said. Protests will be held outside Ogden Point “at any time that those buses would be operating. I would assume that the majority of the time would be when the cruise ships are there.” This would not be a strike, Williams said.
Victoria’s tourist sector counts on the cruise-ship industry to deliver passengers to the city core and to attractions such as Butchart Gardens. Ship visits are also seen as a way to showcase Victoria in the hopes of generating return visits.
More than 460,000 passengers will be arriving on 211 cruise ship visits this year. The Zaandam will be the first ship of the season at 2 p.m. on April 17. The final ship docks Sept. 29.
Williams said B.C. Transit is not delivering adequate service in the capital region and questions how it can have extra buses for tourists. Demand picks up at the beginning of September.
Meribeth Burton, Transit spokeswoman, said the proposal would deliver six buses, some double-decker, from Victoria, Whistler and Kelowna, running on diesel fuel with five per cent biodesiel in the mix. Service is reduced once post-secondary students are not in class, leaving some buses idle in the 1,000-vehicle fleet serving B.C. communities.
“It’s an innovative new way to utilize underutilized resources and to make a little bit of revenue,” she said.
Transit would receive about $100,000 if successful and some money would go to communities where the buses came from to help offset Transit costs, she said.
The Victoria regional system’s nearly 500 drivers “won’t be affected at all by the lease of six buses. They will continue to have their full-time jobs,” she said.
Although service demand picks up in September in Victoria and Kelowna, that is not the case in Whistler, where ridership rises in mid-November because of the winter season, Burton said. Buses are moved throughout the fleet.
Also, other companies already operate under the Transit banner, she said, pointing to Kelowna and Whistler.
Grad said that a July request for qualifications for a five-year shuttle service operating under more stringent noise and emission requirements failed to attract a proponent able to meet desired standards.
A subsequent modified request for proposals sought improved technology relating to passenger capacity, noise and emissions, he said. “This year is sort of the test market stage.”
That request for proposals generated a “good, healthy response,” he said.
What is learned this year will put the harbour authority in a better position to make decisions next year, Grad said. A variety of technology has been proposed in including hybrid, compressed natural gas and electric vehicles, he said.
Meanwhile, a proposed marine shuttle service between Ogden Point and downtown will not begin this year, said Grad. He’s hoping to see it in 2014.
Proposals this year did not make a water shuttle economically viable because boat sizes were too small, he said.
