BC Ferries and the Southern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC) will be watching the temporary schedules during upcoming construction at the Langdale terminal with an eye to lessons for a planned permanent re-working of the schedule.
The schedule will switch temporarily to hourly runs carrying fewer vehicles and passengers, starting Jan. 19, 2017.
“What if the by-product of all this is that the residents of the Sunshine Coast fall madly in love with the hourly service?” asked chair Diana Mumford at the FAC’s Nov. 14 meeting in Gibsons. “If everything goes perfectly and there’s no overloads and everything’s on time, and it’s hourly, you’re going to have a hard act to follow.”
Mumford made the comments during discussions around the construction project, on-time performance and overloads.
BC Ferries vice president of strategic planning Mark Collins confirmed the company is hoping to make headway on schedule changes in the spring, after the terminal project is completed.
Collins, who took part in the meeting by phone, noted at one point that with operations at terminals, especially Horseshoe Bay, becoming more complex, there are scheduled sailing times “which, frankly, it isn’t possible for the ships to keep.” Collins said the only permanent fix would be a new schedule based on a longer service day, but that will need the cooperation of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers union.
“What we’re proposing to the union is no less than a change to the hours of work provisions of the collective agreement that enable us to schedule marine crews differently on this route. We have precedent on other routes for doing the change that we propose, so we believe the union is favourable to it,” Collins told FAC members.
Collins said the FAC and Sunshine Coast residents will have a say in what a new schedule looks like.
Mike Shanks, Sechelt council’s representative on the FAC, said overloads, like the ones in Langdale this past Sunday that led BC Ferries to add extra sailings, are becoming far too common.
“Over the last couple of years the new reality is you have to be there an hour before it sails … no longer can you get there 20 minutes before and expect to get on the ferry,” he said.
Collins and other BC Ferries officials also said the company is continuing its efforts to better coordinate with transit systems on both sides of Howe Sound and improve the parking situation. One option on the table is a deal with a private company to manage parking lots in Langdale, similar to the arrangements at other terminals.
