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West Shore Express Passenger Ferry | Royal Bay to Victoria


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#21 Mike K.

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 05:08 PM

Release from Colwood:

BC Ferries has published a pre-feasibility study for a passenger ferry service from Royal Bay in Colwood to Ship Point in downtown Victoria. The report provides a high-level assessment of the proposed service and the infrastructure that would be required. No decisions have been made about a ferry service.

The study estimates that with two ferries running between Royal Bay and Ship Point at 30 minute intervals during peak times, and a fare price of $5.75, the service could be cash positive in its first year of operation, generating $170,000 per year.

"The report suggests that a West Shore Express passenger ferry could take up to 1000 vehicles out of the commute and move about one million people a year between the West Shore and downtown Victoria," said Mayor Rob Martin. "To put that number in perspective, the Sea Bus service in Vancouver carries about six million people each year."

The report discusses using a high-speed passenger catamaran ferry called the Damen Fast Ferry 3209. It has a capacity of 294 passengers and can maintain a speed of 25 knots even when travelling in significant waves of more than 2 metres.

The report suggests that a 130m breakwater would be required to protect berths at Royal Bay.

One aspect that Mayor Rob Martin notes will need more consideration is parking. "Royal Bay offers some of the most beautiful waterfront on the island and is primed to become a world-class seaside destination," said Mayor Martin. "Some creative thinking around parking will need to be included if plans move forward."

A ferry service would also need to be part of a larger transportation strategy that includes enhanced transit service as well as road and intersection upgrades which are being planned now as part of Colwood's transportation master plan.

The study has been sent to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to consider among their plans for a long-term southern Vancouver Island Transportation Strategy.

Once its stakeholders have reviewed the study, BC Ferries says the group will determine if the concept is worthy of further study.

The next step would be for the Province to undertake a full feasibility study.

Mayor Martin says people should keep in mind that these are long term plans. "Any proposal of this magnitude is going to be years in the making."

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#22 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 05:12 PM

silly idea. the two ferries alone will cost over $30 million each and another $20 million or more for terminals. plus land acquisition costs for parking. that money can buy lots of highway widening.

nobody in colwood or royal bay wants a 750 car parking lot.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 18 March 2019 - 05:18 PM.


#23 Mike K.

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 05:17 PM

It is pretty comical to read “cash positive” for a government run ferry, isn’t it?

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#24 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 05:27 PM

seabus works because there are 200000 people on the north shore parking in downtown vancouver is expensive and the fare is included in your bus fare or monthly pass.

there is no free parking at lonsdale quay.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 18 March 2019 - 05:31 PM.


#25 Mike K.

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 05:29 PM

I’d like to know how much that breakwater will cost, lol.

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#26 sdwright.vic

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 05:32 PM

$2.50 each way plus whatever they charge for parking may be less the the cost of parking downtown (by the time this gets started).
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#27 DavidSchell

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 05:34 PM

isn't that what the Seabus passengers do in Vancouver?

 

Exactly ... good idea, but as someone pointed out needs to be integrated into the transit system.

 

City of North Vancouver is around 60k.


Edited by DavidSchell, 18 March 2019 - 05:36 PM.


#28 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 05:36 PM

hopefully amor gets your reply more than 10 years later.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 18 March 2019 - 05:37 PM.


#29 Mike K.

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 05:36 PM

You sure it’s not $11.50 round trip?

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#30 Nparker

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 06:09 PM

...Mayor Martin says people should keep in mind that these are long term plans. "Any proposal of this magnitude is going to be years in the making planning."

There I fixed the quote. This idea may be studied and planned for years, because regionally that is what we are good at doing; implementation, not so much. For proof, I offer the fact that this very thread was started almost exactly 10 years ago and there's certainly no passenger ferry running today.



#31 LJ

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 07:11 PM

We could go back to the blue boats.


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#32 Mike K.

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Posted 18 March 2019 - 07:17 PM

Barry Hobbis back in 2013:

Victoria Harbour Ferry introduced its Baseline Ferry Service between Colwood and CFB Esquimalt in 2012, charging $5 for a return trip, to fill a gap left when the military cancelled its free Blue Boat service that, for 55 years, carried 400 to 600 people a day across Esquimalt Harbour.

But it cancelled the service a year later in April of this year due to poor ridership. “The ridership just wasn’t there,” Hobbis said. “When it was free [operated by the military] hundreds of people were there. But as soon as it went to $2.50, they weren’t there.”


Victoria’s new nickname ought to be quixotic.
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#33 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 19 March 2019 - 04:03 AM

https://www.timescol...vice-1.23667230


just look at the map here. it really tells you how insane the idea is.

just that last few hundred yards into the harbour will take 15 minutes with the extra slow speeds allowed there. to load and unload 300 people at the V2V dock will take at least 20 minutes.

#34 Cassidy

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Posted 19 March 2019 - 06:34 AM

The "small town think" is strong in these last few posts.

 

Although I'm not immune to the "it'll never work" line of thinking on topics like these ... the Westshore ferry idea is a good one, and considering what's going on out in the Westshore in terms of construction, even the current (McKenzie Interchange) and future (dedicated HOV lanes all the way) transportation plans still aren't enough to take us through the next 20 years.

 

The Province and the CRD have got to start mixing commuting methods up, spending big money on it, and otherwise accepting that a single major road (it's not a highway) between the Core and the Westshore is already a decade+ past its due date.

 

Buses, ferries, light rail, cars, bikes ... with the exception of walking, it all belongs on the table.



#35 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 19 March 2019 - 06:37 AM

cassidy just point to any town big or small that has a similar successful service.  surely somewhere in the entire world has/had a similar dilemma that might have been solved with a ferry.



#36 Mike K.

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Posted 19 March 2019 - 06:42 AM

The waters are very rough along that route. This will not be a pleasant sailing on many days and despite the fact that the vessels they want to use can sail through 2m chop that won’t solve the sea sickness issue.

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#37 Rob Randall

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Posted 19 March 2019 - 06:54 AM

I don't think they should really start planning this without a week or two of test runs. If they could get a short term lease on a similar boat and run it out there in November or April, the worse weather the better. How long does it actually take. How long to actually unload the passengers? How bad is the water. It would be a crude simulation but I think you need that data.

 

And would it be even necessary in ten years with advancements in self-driving cars? 



#38 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 19 March 2019 - 07:02 AM

borrow the v2v for the test



#39 Nparker

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Posted 19 March 2019 - 07:40 AM

borrow the v2v for the test

And temporarily rename it the C2V.


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#40 Mike K.

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Posted 19 March 2019 - 07:46 AM

If Hobbis couldn’t make a quick and easy Esquimalt
Harbour connection work among people who used the connection for years, all because it suddenly cost $5 round trip and before then it was free, what makes government think people will drive down two lane roads to get to nearly the Metchosin border, park in a massive parking lot, walk to the pier, wait for their boat to arrive then load, commence a 30+ minute sailing, then unload at the wax museum, then walk 10-20 minutes to their destination only to do it once more? And what if you miss the last boat? What then?

And that’s before passengers get slapped with a fare that, mark my words, won’t be a nickel cheaper than $8 one way.
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