After waiting four and a half hours to get on a ferry leaving Langdale on Nov. 13, passenger Barry Meyer was dismayed to see space left on the car deck as the 8:20 p.m. sailing finally left the dock nearly an hour late with about 70 cars still waiting to board.
“Seven more vehicles could have easily been added,” Meyer told Coast Reporter this week.
He had arrived at the ferry terminal at 4:45 p.m. on Nov. 13, expecting a long lineup due to high traffic volumes over the Remembrance Day long weekend.
He was right, and ended up being one of the last cars accepted in the terminal’s overflow parking lot before the gates were closed behind him. Ferry traffic stretched all the way up the bypass and Meyer said he understood he’d be “lucky to be on the 8:20 p.m. sailing.”
Overloads and delays pushed ferries far off schedule and finally, at about 9:10 p.m., Meyer said he was directed to get on the late 8:20 p.m. ferry that had just arrived.
“I was loaded onto deck four of the Queen of Surrey,” Meyer said. “As I parked my truck near the back of the row, I got out and observed the ferry staff loading the vehicles. I heard three staff members talking amongst themselves and they were very upset that the BC Ferries managers were not loading the ferry to capacity.”
The ferry left the dock with the empty space at the prompting of the terminal manager on shift, according to Deborah Marshall, executive director, public affairs with BC Ferries.
“The sailing in question left an overload of over 70 vehicles. While there may have been room for a few more vehicles, the staff was cognizant that the vessel was running behind schedule and the Queen of Capilano would be coming to Langdale to provide an extra sailing to accommodate the 70 plus vehicles,” Marshall said.
“Trying to squeeze the last vehicles into the tight spaces at the back of a full load takes extra time as the crew get vehicle descriptions from the loaders and try to judge if they will fit. We can lose four to five minutes of time trying to accommodate these last vehicles and delaying the vessel further.”
Marshall also noted crews must leave some room for last-minute foot passengers to get through the cars.
“There could be strollers, wheelchairs, etc., trying to get by,” she said.
Meyer said, in his opinion, the practice showed “a serious lack of regard for the travelling public.”
“I lost a great deal of respect for BC Ferries this past weekend.”
The last ferry of the evening departed Langdale at 11:15 p.m. and carried 80 vehicles and 144 passengers, Marshall said.
