3426 replies to this topic

[aastra]

Secrets, secrets, secrets:

Cook Street Village is one of Victoria's best-kept secrets. It's well away from the town's tourist haunts and is generally only known to, and frequented by, locals...

From TripAdvisor.com...

[Rob Randall]

Based on experience campaigning in the Civic Election I'd estimate nearly half the people strolling through Cook St. Village were from outside the City of Victoria, perhaps more. Maybe 25% were from outside the CRD.

[LJ]

^They are all in on the secret. Damn you tripadvisor.

[Mike K.]

The discussion on the Belleville Terminal has been moved to the Belleville Terminal discussion thread. Thank you

[aastra]

BC Ferries has been holding back on the harbour-to-harbour 25-minute jet ferry because they don't want to make the floatplanes look bad:

Cant believe that for a waterways that is heavily used, BC ferries does not have better options such as jet ferries (Hongkong / Macau) from Vancouver downtown so that you can make this distance in less than 30 mns.

From TripAdvisor.com...

[VicHockeyFan]

I gotta check out these jet ferries, 150km in under 30 minutes. To do this they will need to go at least 50kmh in the harbour, that's OK, right? Then 90kmh the rest of the way.

These 38 knot ships never made the cut. How many passengers can those unlimited hydroplanes carry?

[JohnN]

BC Ferries has been holding back on the harbour-to-harbour 25-minute jet ferry because they don't want to make the floatplanes look bad:

From TripAdvisor.com...

Having been a kid in Victoria in the 1950s and been on the 6 hour run of the old CPR Princess ferries Victoria Harbour - Vancouver Harbour, the current Swartz Bay-Tswwassen route SEEMS pretty high speed in comparison.

From news story: "Huge' increase in ferry passengers may..."
By Watts, Richard. Times - Colonist 25 June 1997: 1.:

Frank Rhodes, president of the British Columbia Ferry Corp., said the proposed high-speed ferries would service a 90-minute run between Swartz Bay and downtown Vancouver.

In 1992, the Norwegian-owned Royal Sealink started a downtown-to- downtown catamaran service between Vancouver and Victoria. It folded after one year, several accidents, an at-sea collision and persistent complaints of seasickness.

In 1986, Victoria-based Hoverwest Ferry Services Inc. tried hovercraft service between downtown Victoria and downtown Vancouver. It folded after one summer.

And in 1985, Victoria-owned Island Jetfoil attempted to link downtown Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle with a hydrofoil craft. Within six months it was in receivership.

But Rhodes said BC Ferries would avoid many of the problems that plagued the free-enterprise operations.

For one thing, departure from Swartz Bay instead of downtown Victoria knocks about 60 minutes from the boat trip. It also eliminates the need to sail around the southern tip of Vancouver Island, an area that triggers most of the seasickness complaints.

[LJ]

I gotta check out these jet ferries, 150km in under 30 minutes. To do this they will need to go at least 50kmh in the harbour, that's OK, right? Then 90kmh the rest of the way.

The boats to Macau leave from outside the harbour proper, once they are a little ways offshore it picks up to full speed. Makes a great day trip.

[Bingo]

BC Ferries has been holding back on the harbour-to-harbour 25-minute jet ferry because they don't want to make the floatplanes look bad:

From TripAdvisor.com...

They are also holding back on the nice French fries with your non-existant Wi-Fi.

The food falls a little flat. Warning, they serve the worst french fries i have ever eaten....don't order them. Although there is wifi ( not much range) at the terminal, there is none on the ship. For what they charge there should be.

http://www.tripadvis...d184078-Reviews-

[Rob Randall]

I noticed that one of the BC Ferry reviewers on Trip Advisor was Barb McLintock, Victoria's chief coroner. I like the idea of going to a restaurant based on the coroner's recommendation. I expect her to say the sushi's estimated time of death was five to six hours earlier.

[JohnN]

The boats to Macau leave from outside the harbour proper, once they are a little ways offshore it picks up to full speed. Makes a great day trip.

Looks like the Hong Kong jet ferries are jetfoils, but I think those were tried on the Victoria-Vancouver route many years ago and had some problems with hitting deadhead logs in the Strait?

TurboJET Fleet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboJET#Fleet

[Bingo]

I noticed that one of the BC Ferry reviewers on Trip Advisor was Barb McLintock, Victoria's chief coroner. I like the idea of going to a restaurant based on the coroner's recommendation. I expect her to say the sushi's estimated time of death was five to six hours earlier.

[Rob Randall]

^Yes, lower speeds due to logs were a problem. But that was the days when log booms were towed around the harbour. Maybe it's not an issue anymore.

It was called the Boeing 929. I will update this old post although some of the links are dead.

---

Since there seems to be almost nothing on the internet about this nearly forgotten chapter in Victoria history I did some research.

In 1980, my mother was office manager at Truman Advertising, the Victoria advertising agency based at the top floor of the Harbour Towers Hotel. They won the provincial government-owned BC Steamship account. This small agency had the impossible challenge of convincing locals and tourists the value of a new transportation system nobody wanted (They also "won" the E&N Railway account).

Since 1975, BC Steamship (under the watchful eye of the Social Credit government) had been running the old CP ship "Princess Marguerite" between Victoria and Seattle. In an effort to lively up the old ship, Union Jacks were painted on the smokestacks and successful ad campaigns featuring jaunty jingles were run in the American media "Take a Princess to sea; have a crumpet and tea!" (were they responsible for perpetuating Victoria's phony "little bit of old England" schtick? Right-o, old chap!


The new Princess Marguerite in 1949 off Vancouver.


The "obsolete" Marguerite in 1979 docked in the Inner Harbour.

Anyway, the problem was, the old ship was considered obsolete, slow, unsafe and in desperate need of replacement despite counterclaims that it was safe and reliable.

Cabinet initially pegged the BC Ferry Queen of Surrey (the original cruise-ship-styled one, not the current double-ender) for the job and spent $50 000 drawing up plans. For some reason, that plan was scrapped and the Queen of Prince Rupert, also a cruise ship-style BC Ferry was pulled from its northern route and renamed the Victoria Princess. The Marguerite was unceremoniously mothballed in Esquimalt Harbour at a cost of $5000 a month. The Queen of Prince Rupert was replaced on the northern route by the now-sunk Queen of the North.



The Victoria Princess, 1980.
Robert Randall photo
(Sorry for the poor quality! I didn't have my digital camera in 1980!

in March, 1980, the second piece of the puzzle was announced: the Victoria Princess's partner, a Boeing 929 jetfoil leased from Boeing Marine Systems capable of speeds topping 74 km/h (compared to the 55 km/h of the catamaran operating the route today).



Boeing 929 Jetfoil
Photo: Boeing

Once up to a sufficient speed, the jetfoil would rise on vertical wings and "fly" above the surface of the water, the jet propulsion units being contained in the wingtips below the water's surface. Rumour had it at the time the cost of the changeover so far was upwards of $5 million and rising quickly.






1978 Jetfoil flying Princess II docked in Seattle Port Orchard Press Photo

Everyone in the ad agency and their family received a free weekend in Seattle which was a big thrill for a 13-year old boy like me. On the May long weekend, we sailed on the maiden voyage of the Victoria Princess which was crammed wall-to-wall with other freeloaders--Socred cronies, administrators, politicians, Boeing Aircraft employees and God knows who else. It was hot, stuffy and unbearably crowded.



Promotional poster created by Truman Advertising
Robert Randall photo

We stayed at the Seattle Park Hilton (which was my first experience in a skyscraper--indeed, I made an ill-fated attempt to access the roof via a stairwell and was intercepted by a kind-yet-firm security guard who guided me back to my room). We returned to Victoria by the Flying Princess II jetfoil.

Then the numbers came in. Travellers hated it. Passenger ridership was down considerably over the previous year. The minister responsible bragged about the whopping 3,424 passengers the two ships carried in the first six days but was forced to admit that included the free-for-all maiden voyage we were on. By mid-summer passengers were down by 30%, revenue by 50%. The government blamed the US economy (the usual excuse) and the recent eruption of the Mt. St. Helens volcano (not so usual) for the decrease in passengers. Here's a typical exchange in the BC Legislature from that summer:



The season was a disaster and the following year the Victoria Princess was given back to BC Ferries, and given back its original name and route. BC Steamship brought back the Marguerite until the operation was sold.



The Marguerite in 1981. Out of mothballs and back in service.

Stena Lines of Sweden took over the running of the Princess Marguerite until 1989, when they replaced her with another ship on the Victoria/Seattle run. Stena operated the route for a few years before bailing out of the Victoria ferry business. The Marguerite was sold to a Singapore company for use as a restaurant ship and was eventually scrapped near the port city of Bhavnagar in the State of Gujarat on the West Coast of India in 1997.

The Boeing jetfoil "Flying Princess II" is [url=http://www.jrbeetle.co.jp/english/:e776d]now serving travellers between Korea and Japan[/url:e776d] under the new name [url=http://www.mirejet.co.kr/community/3_view.asp?id=242:e776d]Kobee V[/url:e776d]. In May 2005, Kobee V [url=http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/393812:e776d]struck a whale[/url:e776d] and sustained heavy damage after leaving Busan, Korea and had to be towed back for repairs. All Boeing's remaining jetfoils operate between Japan and Korea and Hong Kong and Macau.

[HB]

1910ish

[VicHockeyFan]

I saw this heading through Chinatown today. It appeared to have some tourists on it. It's an Enviro500, with no markings.

Uh, isn't it a bit risky driving that around town? It doesn't clear all wires etc., does it?

[Sparky]

^ Does it have it's own postal code?

[VicHockeyFan]

Height: 4.1 ("Go-anywhere" version), 4.2 or 4.3 meters

(13, 13.77 or 14.1 foot)

[jonny]

That orange bus has been driving around all summer. There is also a convertible one just like it. I assume they haven't hit anything yet!

[VicHockeyFan]

That orange bus has been driving around all summer. There is also a convertible one just like it. I assume they haven't hit anything yet!

Oh, that's good. I presume there are routes they have tested if they've been around all summer. Funny I never saw it until today.

[Baro]

Transit did their "homework" before they got the doubler deckers and they still hit a LOT of stuff in the first months...