BC Ferries is moving ahead to develop 11 “community-sourced” ideas for improving service on Route 3 – including potentially changing how the reservation system works.
The Moving Ahead Together Project, which started last August, is aiming to establish “near-term” solutions for the Langdale-Horseshoe Bay route through engagement with Sunshine Coast residents and other stakeholders.
A project working group, composed of Sunshine Coast residents, BC Ferries employees, chairs of ferry advisory committees (FAC) and others, established the ideas with the company.
The topics were grouped around travel certainty, medical travel, communications and demand management.
Among them was a focus on changes to the reservation system, including staggering the release of reservations to allow last-minute bookings and setting a certain amount of reservations aside for those using the Travel Assistance Program (TAP) and Medical Assured Loading (MAL) program.
Results from the engagement process showed people were divided on reservations, according to the report – with some wishing to see Route 3 move to 100 per cent reservations, while others wished to remove reservations entirely.
Participants were also divided on whether to establish a resident priority system.
Following virtual meetings and online engagement, and the distribution of paper copies at public locations on the Sunshine Coast between Nov. 18 and Dec. 9, a report released Feb. 1 said “community feedback” indicated all of the ideas “were worth moving forward.”
With phase two complete, BC Ferries plans to hold workshops with “internal and external stakeholders” to develop “tangible solutions” that can then be brought to the public for feedback “where appropriate” between March and April.
BC Ferries said in the report that people also want several “key considerations” to be included as the 11 proposals are developed: ensuring fairness, making travel easier for people taking more than one ferry, prioritizing medical travel and improving access to information.
In total 285 people responded to the engagement survey and virtual meetings saw a total of 40 attendees. The project webpage received 1,600 visits.
Southern Sunshine Coast FAC chair Diana Mumford told Coast Reporter she had concerns about the low number of participants. “We do have 30,000 people on the Coast,” she said, “so to base it on 285 people, I wasn’t all that comfortable with that.” Virtual meetings due to COVID-19 restrictions made it especially difficult to engage, she said.
Based on the engagement process, Mumford said the biggest challenge remains the broad range of competing priorities, as shown by the opposing desires to have more reservations and none at all.
“We’re trying to solve some problems at Route 3 that in the long run would be best solved by another ferry. We all know with COVID-19 the redevelopment of Langdale and Horseshoe Bay has been put to the side,” she said.
“The purchase of another ferry we could have on our route is at least five years out now. That’s a big issue. That would resolve a whole lot of things. It comes down to capacity.”
Two letters were also submitted with the report, including one from Jonathan Heerema of Destination BC, representing a tourism growth management advisory committee for the Sunshine Coast.
The group wants to see BC Ferries “implement initiatives” to bring 2021 capacity to 2019 levels.
Other requests included encouraging travel on off-peak sailings and more “reliable, easy to secure transportation services” at terminals for walk-on passengers.
They also want BC Ferries to promote Sunshine Coast tourism businesses that suffered from a loss of ferry traffic during the pandemic.
The report can be read here: https://www.bcferriesprojects.ca/aheadtogether
