Berth work underway at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal is raising concerns about on-time performance for Sunshine Coast passengers.
The berth work, which began Tuesday (Oct. 12) and is scheduled to go until Dec. 14, will result in the closure of berth three where the Queen of Surrey typically departs from.
"How it will affect our Langdale customers, because we'll have three routes competing for two berths, there is the potential for delays," said B.C. Ferries media relations officer Deborah Marshall. "I would say probably Fridays and Sundays, or if one of the other ships gets behind schedule because that can affect the other ones."
Marshall said the closure is necessary for preventative maintenance on the ramp, which must be recoated to prevent rusting and corrosion.
"It's a maintenance thing. You've got to reapply these things every once in a while," Marshall said.
Marshall said conflicts will most likely arise if ships on the Nanaimo route are trying to arrive or depart at the same time as the Langdale runs, but those times are typically staggered by about 30 minutes.
Last time B.C. Ferries closed a berth for maintenance was at the beginning of the year when berth two was closed for a month. Marshall said the on-time performance during that period was relatively high.
"It was closed for the month of January, and looking at the Queen of Surrey's on-time performance, 95.3 per cent of the sailings left within 10 minutes of the scheduled sailing time," Marhsall said.
But 95 per cent on-time sailing does not mean much if being 10 minutes late can be considered on time, according to Cal Bowles, Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) manager of transit and ports.
Bowles said it is a constant challenge trying to make SCRD Transit meet up with the ferries and a 10-minute delay plus the eight or nine minutes it takes for foot passengers to offload in Langdale and board a bus throws the whole transit schedule into disarray.
He said SCRD transit drivers will usually wait beyond the scheduled time in order to pick up people hoping to connect from the ferry to a bus, which makes up about 25 per cent of SCRD transit's ridership, but those delays cause confusion and frustration for the rest of riders.
"Seventy-five per cent are the people who are on the Coast trying to get to work or from school or to appointments, and typically they don't have a nice warm waiting room to wait in, and they're not aware, quite often, of why the bus is late or if they missed it," Bowles said.
He said he frequently hears complaints from people who have walked away from a bus stop after waiting for 10 minutes assuming they've missed the bus only to see the bus blow by a few minutes later.
Bowles said he would like to see B.C. Ferries be "more practical" with scheduling so as to not schedule ferries for times they are unlikely to be able to make. He said the recent Labour Day to Thanksgiving shoulder season schedule did just that.
"Quite often, the ferry was late on that schedule as well, so that made it quite difficult for us to meet the ferries. We had more complaints than I've ever had in one month's time," he said.
Marshall said 77.6 per cent of sailings left within 10 minutes of their scheduled sailing time during that season.
She added that B.C. Ferries acknowledges the problems in linking up with buses on the Coast
"We're very aware. I know both the ships and the terminals are going to work very hard together to make sure they turn that ship around as soon as possible. We realize the impact we've recently had on customers on the Langdale run, and we certainly don't want to cause any more delays for them. It's very much top-of-mind for the terminal staff and the shipboard crews," she said. "There's certainly room for improvement at 77.6 per cent."
Empty sailing
Passengers hoping to catch the 7:50 p.m. sailing from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale Monday were left confused when the Queen of Surrey unloaded its traffic and then departed without taking on any new passengers.
Marshall said the decision was made to immediately send the Surrey back to Langdale where traffic was heavy and substitute the Coastal Renaissance shortly after.
"The Coastal Renaissance was right behind it and then we had overloads over at Langdale. What they wanted to do was get over to Langdale as quickly as we could, try to get the Surrey back on time and get that traffic moving out of Langdale," Marshall said.
