Ferry Fiasco

Family Reunion

Sat Jul 2

Sunset over Van Island from the deck

I am rather a fan of BC Ferries.  They ply 25 routes with 39 ships around some of the most stunning scenery, moving 22m passengers and 8m vehicles a year according to their website ‘about us’. 

All three HorseshoeBay berths in use

Their staff are friendly, vessels are kept in pretty good order and if they sail past a pod of Orca or the occasional Humpback Whale, they will announce it to passengers, even at the risk of all on board converging to one side of the ship!  But.  You can’t use a debit card or Canada’s Interac system to pay for a booking online, but they both work on a ferry.  The website is clunky, far from intuitive and not mobile friendly.  There is no mobile app to buy or show tickets and their scheduling and crisis management ripples through the fleet when a problem arises.  

I popped over to Vancouver on Wednesday.  On my morning journey to Vancouver a former Smith Road neighbour working on food service came over and chatted when the initial rush was over.  Table clearers, deckhands and others will often spend time having a natter.   This public face of BC Ferries is great customer engagement. The Coast is a small community and many of the Langdale/Horseshoe Bay crew live amongst their customers.  Management in contrast appear remote behind their corporate cloak of invisibility.  

Bowen Island ferry

On the return journey I arrived twenty minutes before the 2.25pm sailing, as a 'drive up' with ‘availability’ showing on the two subsequent crossings (4.45 and 7.05).  There was no room on the 2.25pm and both subsequent ferries were showing full within half an hour. That means with the cars waiting in the terminal alongside pre-booked crossings, there would be no more drive-ups until the last boat.   I managed to get on the later of the two, after a wait of five hours. At busy times, they add extra ferries in the afternoon, but not Wednesday despite being into school holidays and a long weekend no more than a day away.   The last ferry at 11.30 was also full and many Coast residents were left in the car park overnight, according to local social media. Fortunately there is a pub outside the terminal where I retired to and enjoyed the view of the harbour over a pint of local brew.

In fairness, they have had two years of disruption due to Covid, with staff shortages following layoffs during the Pandemic.  No different to other transport systems around the world. They have had to work with varying degrees of Federal ownership and interference, which is changing again.  In UK terms, at various times they have been a government department, an agency, and currently a Federal owned company which is set to be moving back towards the first model.  None of that will have been easy for the management, particularly if they are always
looking behind.  That said, it does not feel they planned for the end of Covid.  The last two years would have been a great time to relaunch their online presence, while demand was low and sort out their technology. To add to Wednesday’s problems, one of their large ferries between Tsawwassen (South of Vancouver) and Van Island went tech.  Consequently, more passengers were using the Langdale route to access Van Island from the northern part of the Coast.  Many crossings are already fully booked through to the end of August.  Coast residents dependent on the ferries to get to the ‘mainland’, feel ignored and frustrated, and have been for some years.   

With my dashcam now arrived from the UK in our shipment I got the whole journey over to Vancouver. If only it could always be done in two minutes!

On the subject of boats, our yacht club race last Sunday was a bit of a disaster. Not because I was given the helm for the day, but the wind was fickle before eventually dying on us completely.  We were forced to retire and motor back to the marina.  The course took us out around the back of Pasley Island where the wind died, hence the erratic tacks.  At one point the tide started taking us backwards. 

Race course with Keats Island to the North and Bowen Island to the East

Still it was amazing to see this part of the Coast from the sea, which we had a lot of time to do!  We covered only 10.6 nautical miles in 3 hrs and 55 minutes.  Hardly America's Cup stuff.

On Monday, Rosalind who had been bonding with her nephew in Kits for the weekend, came over to the Coast and Fred picked up her sister from YVR. The plane (BA) was over 2 hours late so they ended up getting the last ferry over from Horseshoe Bay.  Little more than 25% full compared to the same boat on Wednesday.   We have a houseful again!

Flotilla Canada Day event

It’s great to see them both, particularly Ros as it’s almost four years since we saw her in the flesh, having gone back out to NZ and the end of Dec 2018.  

Friday we headed down to Smuggler Cove, the other side of Halfmoon Bay.  It’s a beautiful walk around the inlets and islands. This visit a number of yachts were moored up, including a small flotilla who were celebrating Canada Day (Fri July 1st), if the flags and signal flags were anything to go by.

Jack,  as ever, was in and out of the water but managed to come out with two bleeding paws,  we think from over-enthusiastically clambering over the rocky, barnacle covered foreshore exposed by the low tide.  

Old cabin in Smuggler Cove

Friday evening the Public Market was holding a Canada Day Night Market.  A couple of dozen stalls selling beer, cocktails, food and even candy floss.  Haven’t seen that in years, but the smell was very reminiscent of seaside holidays of old.  I’ve never really liked the stuff, so no temptation there.  The craft beer stalls were another matter!  Live music played from the upper deck of the public market making for a really buzzy event.

Saturday evening the Kits team are heading over to the Coast so more time with young Seb!  Yeah!

1939 Oldsmobile in the mall car park today

Fred's sister brought some UK produce unavailable here. 
Did you know you only get 16 Cheddars in a multi-pack packet - talk about shrinkage!