With virtually zero fanfare or buzz, a company called Pacific Ferries has announced it will launch a foot passenger ferry service between Gibsons Landing and Horseshoe Bay before the end of the month.
The details were thin and the schedule still seemed like a work in progress, but Pacific spokeswoman Linda Feuerhelm said the vessel, Coastal Clipper, is a monohull design that can transport up to 46 passengers and two crew and travel at a speed of up to 32 knots.
Starting Jan. 27 with weekday afternoon and evening sailings, Pacific Ferries will offer foot passengers the option of bypassing the Langdale terminal and taking a 25-minute run between Horseshoe Bay and the public dock in Gibsons, or vice versa.
Sunshine Coast commuters are the target clientele, and the company says it plans to increase the number of sailings in the summer after its “soft launch” this winter. A free three-day trial period will be used to collect data for a future service expansion.
Last floated by a different company in 2013, the new service comes at a time when BC Ferries and the Southern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee continue to agree to disagree on the critical issue of fare equity. This was illustrated again on Jan. 15 when FAC members met with BC Ferries officials to discuss service cuts and high commercial fares on Route 3.
FAC member Jakob Knaus, reporting on the meeting in his monthly report on ferry traffic numbers, wrote: “While we are hopeful that our efforts to restore the eight Sunday sailings year round are successful, our request for a reduction of our exorbitant commercial fare ($6.90 per ft.) to the level of commercial fares for the other major routes per April 1 ($6.45 per ft.) was rejected outright.”
Knaus called the ferry corporation’s position on fare equity for Route 3 “very disappointing and demotivating.”
For some ferry-dependent residents, those feelings about BC Ferries and its high fares are longstanding and probably incurable. With BC Ferries locked into a pricing and service model that many people in coastal communities deplore, any effort to offer “ferry hostages” some options has to be applauded.
It’s too soon to predict how the new service will perform. One promising sign is that Pacific Ferries says it wants to talk to Sunshine Coast residents and is open to tailoring its schedule to meet their needs and preferences. That kind of a talk from a ferry company is like a welcome breath of fresh sea air.
For that gesture alone, we wish Pacific Ferries a long and successful voyage.
