After failing to reach an agreement with the Gibsons Landing Harbour Authority in 2008, Coastal Link Ferries (CLF) has announced its plans to begin running a daily commuter ferry to downtown Vancouver beginning March 1 from Hopkins Landing.
Ihab Shaker, CLF's chief operating officer, sent an e-mail to local politicians and stakeholders announcing the proposal last week.
Shaker said his plans are to leave Hopkins Landing at 6:30 a.m., make a stop at Bowen Island to pick up passengers there and dock in the Burrard Inlet near Thurlow and Cordova streets at 7:45 a.m. The return trip leaves at 4:30 p.m., drops off passengers back at Bowen and then arrives at Hopkins Landing at 5:45 p.m. CLF passengers would have to park in B.C. Ferries' Langdale lot and bus to Hopkins.
Shaker said commuting with CLF provides an alternative to B.C. Ferries and has the advantage of getting passengers directly downtown. He said his clientele from Bowen Island can attest to that.
"I've made a thousand crossings from Bowen across Howe Sound with tens of thousands of very satisfied passengers. It's safe, comfortable and an extremely reliable, consistent service," he said.
Shaker said he plans to extend that service to more trips per day as summer approaches and the market develops.
There is, however, some hesitation at the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) to give the thumbs up for Shaker to use the Hopkins dock, which the SCRD owns.
In her director's report at the Jan. 14 board meeting, West Howe Sound director Lee Turnbull said constituents are already voicing concern over issues like traffic, noise and parking.
"I'm getting a lot of surprise and outrage from the neighbours around the dock about the complete lack of consultation related to the proposed service," she said.
SCRD directors had heard CLF was looking to start business on the Sunshine Coast again in early January and passed a motion at the Jan. 7 infrastructure services committee meeting asking staff to formulate a policy to regulate commercial use of the public docks.
As of Jan. 1, all commercial users of SCRD docks must register with the SCRD and pay a fee, but transit and ports manager Cal Bowles said there is nothing to stop CLF from starting its business in the meantime.
"The way the policy is written now, he's not doing anything anybody else can't do," Bowles said. "It's a public dock."
Bowles said he has spoken with Shaker and has confirmed that the SCRD bus schedule will match CLF's schedule and that there is no parking allowed near the Hopkins dock.
Shaker said he is keen to address the community and politicians' concerns, and he emphasized parking will not be a problem.
"Everybody is anticipating problems and I can guarantee there will be no big, capital, bold letters N-O parking issues because there is no parking there," Shaker said.
Shaker said he has not spoken with B.C. Ferries about the use of their lot, but he does not anticipate any problems there either as increased parking fees will provide more revenue for the company.
Deborah Marshall, B.C. Ferries spokesperson, offered little comment on non-B.C Ferries customers using their lot.
"I can't say there is any hard and fast rule. We went to all the expense to pave it and everything else for our customers," she said. "There hasn't been any formal dialogue, so I really can't comment at this time. It would be premature."
