I agree, I don't need a fancy terminal as it is not where I want to lounge around. Clipper Navigation needs to appreciate the fact that they have a prime location in our beautiful harbour.I've said it before, and I've looked at every single Tripadvisor review of the Clipper and Coho. Nobody complains about it.
[Marine] Belleville Terminal and Coho/Clipper services
#41
Posted 08 September 2013 - 05:34 AM
#42
Posted 08 September 2013 - 08:55 AM
I've said it before, and I've looked at every single Tripadvisor review of the Clipper and Coho. Nobody complains about it.
I agree with you VHF. I would use a similar argument with the Victoria airport. We have spent millions upgrading the services in the airport over the past few years but the vast majority of people simply want a means of boarding/departing an aircraft. Neither the airport nor the Clipper terminal are destinations for tourists!
#43
Posted 08 September 2013 - 10:04 AM
#44
Posted 08 September 2013 - 12:04 PM
#45
Posted 08 September 2013 - 12:17 PM
...I don't need a fancy terminal as it is not where I want to lounge around. Clipper Navigation needs to appreciate the fact that they have a prime location in our beautiful harbour.
But, isn't that what they're saying? They're apologizing because the terminal looks like it belongs in an industrial zone in Rock Bay and yet it occupies prime waterfront right in the inner harbour. If the desire is to improve the terminal and "enhance the area" then I don't get why anyone would disagree with their sentiment.
Summary: the reason you don't want to lounge around there right now is because it looks like crap and there isn't anything to see or do. Turn the terminal area into an attractive waterfront with shops and restaurants and comfortable spots to view the harbour and you would want to lounge around there.
#46
Posted 08 September 2013 - 12:35 PM
Summary: the reason you don't want to lounge around there right now is because it looks like crap and there isn't anything to see or do. Turn the terminal area into an attractive waterfront with shops and restaurants and comfortable spots to view the harbour and you would want to lounge around there.
But that's unfeasible. During the winter months the Clipper has one sailing per day with 200 passengers if they're lucky. The Coho's volume isn't much better.
To sustain something meaningful there would require not only the Clipper, Coho and another vessel (like the Star that went belly up or at least cut services between Victoria and Bellingham) but also the entire seaplane operations, and even then the terminal would be lightly used for a good portion of the year and just bleed tax payer money. Victoria International serves 1.5-million passengers per year (4,100 per day) with a captive audience and can only sustain a bare minimum of retail and restaurant services.
Like I said before Clipper's facilities in Seattle are not much better than what they are in Victoria and are completely cut off from public transit and situated in an area that requires a true hustle on foot to access any meaningful amenities. Unless Clipper wishes to make substantial tenant improvements to their space they should accept that what they've got is what taxpayers are willing to provide them. Seriously, what's stopping Clipper from making substantial tenant improvements to the space they lease?
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#47
Posted 08 September 2013 - 03:25 PM
Unless Clipper wishes to make substantial tenant improvements to their space they should accept that what they've got is what taxpayers are willing to provide them. Seriously, what's stopping Clipper from making substantial tenant improvements to the space they lease?
Nothing. But I guess they are not saying they are not wiling to look at paying more, for more delivered.
#48
Posted 08 September 2013 - 03:56 PM
That comparison is a bit flawed though. The airport is a multi use facility and when they get a increase in traffic they get more landing fees and ai fees. The Clipper and Coho don't share their facilities.
My point was that the terminals are purpose driven. People are not going to decide to travel based on whether the terminal is modern looking or not.
#49
Posted 08 September 2013 - 05:27 PM
My point was that the terminals are purpose driven. People are not going to decide to travel based on whether the terminal is modern looking or not.
This is true, mostly. A lot of us visit Cuba, Mexico or Dominican Republic, and it's not for the quality of the host airport.
#50
Posted 08 September 2013 - 06:47 PM
My personal opinion is that Merideth Tall is being rude by posting that sign. As a private American business woman she is pressuring the Canadian taxpayer to buck up to her demands and make her business more profitable with our money.
Perhaps she would like to buy her own waterfront property and build her own terminal building and keep her hands to herself and out of yours and my pocket.
The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority has big plans in the future for this harbour. Her efforts to work within that plan should start by taking down that sign and picking up the phone.
One of the reasons that the most recent Belleville terminal plan didn't even get considered is that U.S.Homeland Security required extensive security upgrades that made the project financially unfeasible.
#51
Posted 08 September 2013 - 07:01 PM
-City of Victoria website, 2009
#52
Posted 09 September 2013 - 06:31 AM
Wasn't there some controversy at the time as well about two of the panel members being behind the hotel development?
#53
Posted 09 September 2013 - 06:47 AM
#54
Posted 09 September 2013 - 08:33 AM
That project was simply too ambitious. Are we to think that a hotel at this location will make sense while hotels just steps away have found themselves in a new reality of rising costs and competition from vacation rentals and sites like AirBnB?
The Harbour Authority and the City of Victoria should make the cruise ship terminal redevelopment a #1 priority. It's a gateway to our city even for those who travel via Clipper or Coho and it looks like an empty Sam's Club parking lot.
The Clipper and Coho have the power to upgrade their facilities should they choose without dragging in untold millions of dollars of tax payer monies to subsidize a lavish redevelopment of an entire area that coincidentally made the last redevelopment proposal unfeasible due to their home country's security requirements.
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Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
#55
Posted 09 September 2013 - 09:37 AM
#56
Posted 09 September 2013 - 12:30 PM
That entire concept should be built not as a risky venture with tax dollars but as a public-private venture that guarantees the tax payers of this city (and the province via PCC) do not end up carrying the weight while private industry reaps the rewards.
The Clipper's and the Coho's passengers could care less about a flashy terminal. Yes, it could be better, yes it's a bit of an embarrassment, and yes, there could be some amenities, but will those things impact someone's decision to sail out of the Inner Harbour on either of those vessels? Probably not.
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
#57
Posted 09 September 2013 - 12:51 PM
I doubt for citizens of Victoria that there would be much urgency in implementing massive improvements at taxpayer expense for so few travellers.
#58
Posted 09 September 2013 - 02:32 PM
#59
Posted 09 September 2013 - 02:58 PM
The parking situation is unfortunate without a doubt but if you ask me the City's time and money would be far better invested in redeveloping Ship's Point if any major undertaking were to occur on the Inner Harbour.
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
#60
Posted 09 September 2013 - 03:12 PM
That would be Ship Point.
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