Buried at the back of the latest “post-engagement” report by BC Ferries (perhaps the most shallow to date, artfully dubbed “Moving Ahead Together on the Sunshine Coast”) is a three-page letter, unsigned but initialled “dmd” and dated Dec. 6, 2020.
It was written by David Dick, a former member of the Southern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee, on which he sat long enough to have heard it all before.
The letter serves as a sort of minority report on BC Ferries’ current exploration of near-term service improvements on Route 3 between Langdale and Horseshoe Bay, which appears to be heading in a direction that will do little more than add further opportunities for BC Ferries to cash in on reservations.
As Mr. Dick says: “While reservations and premium charges on preferred sailing times is a relatively easy and profitable fix for BC Ferries, as a solution it falls short in providing service at preferred times for more of the travelling public.”
Currently, he explains, “each weekday morning, even with reservations, ferry capacity is below demand for oversize vehicles that deliver necessary products to the Sunshine Coast from Horseshoe Bay. During peak demand periods, wait times at Horseshoe Bay and Langdale can easily extend to six hours or more for the travelling public and commercial carriers due to lack of capacity. Charging a reservation fee does not increase capacity.”
The solution he proposes is to expand vessel sharing between Route 3 and Route 2 (Departure Bay) beyond the limited amount already in play. “Additional co-operation could alleviate the morning capacity crunch at Horseshoe Bay and Langdale by redirecting the first vessel in the morning from Horseshoe Bay on Route 2 to Langdale. Other timely concentrations of demand during the day could also be addressed by sharing of vessels, which again would provide capacity when needed for Route 3. In the end, focus would be on capacity at time of need with less capacity at other times.”
Mr. Dick points out that Route 2 customers have distinctly different needs from travellers on the other two routes that sail out of Horseshoe Bay. “In fact, residents of Bowen Island and the Southern Sunshine Coast use the ferry services by a factor of 15 to one on a per capita basis when compared to residents of Vancouver Island.” Nanaimo passengers also have major travel alternatives. BC Ferries’ stated plan to make Departure Bay an almost fully reserved route, he says, could reduce the need for sailings every two hours on that route, “as long as total capacity is retained.”
Unlike the bromide-filled BC Ferries report, with its shopworn “ideas” about improved communications and connections and its focus on new reservation inventory, David Dick’s proposal offers a fresh and dynamic approach to Route 3’s problems and warrants serious study by BC Ferries.
Surely those marine professionals can come up with something better than “Moving Ahead Together.”
