BC Ferries representatives are in the process of planning alternative service during upgrades to both the Westview and Little River terminals.
Company officials met with community representatives on Wednesday, December 12 to provide an update to an initial meeting held in October.
Work on the terminals is expected to take place from January 12 to March 10, 2014.
From January 12 to February 8, both the Westview and Little River terminals will be closed. For those three and a half weeks, the Island Sky, the regular vessel on the Saltery Bay-Earls Cove route, will sail between Saltery Bay and Departure Bay on Vancouver Island. The vessel will be home ported at Departure Bay, with the trip expected to take three hours. BC Ferries is looking at two-round trips a day, one in the early morning and the second in the evening.
During the first part of the project, BC Ferries is arranging flights from Powell River to Comox. Priority will be given to passengers with medical appointments and there will be shuttle service to Courtenay, Comox and Campbell River.
For the remaining four and a half weeks, the Island Sky will sail from Saltery Bay to Little River, with the home port in Little River. The trip is expected to take two hours and 20 minutes and the company is looking at three round trips a day, early morning, mid-day and evening.
While the Island Sky is providing alternative service, the Queen of Chilliwack will be on the Saltery Bay to Earls Cove route.
For Texada Island residents, BC Ferries is looking at three round trips a day from Blubber Bay to Saltery Bay during the eight weeks the Westview terminal is expected to be closed. The crossing time is estimated to be two hours and 15 minutes.
The company is also running a water taxi between Texada and Westview. There will be 10 round trips a day, expected to take 20 minutes. Priority will be given to school students in the morning and afternoon. As well, BC Ferries will have supplementary water taxis ready for peak times.
BC Ferries plans to have additional staff at the Saltery Bay terminal, as well as traffic control workers. Shuttle service will be available from Westview to Saltery Bay.
Community representatives had a number of suggestions to the plan, which BC Ferries employees will be considering. For example, one suggestion was to have shuttle service from Westview terminal to Powell River airport for Texada residents. Another suggestion was for the Island Sky to stop at Blubber Bay to pick up passengers on the way to Little River.
BC Ferries will continue to fine tune the plan and come back to the stakeholders one more time before holding open houses for the public in Powell River, Texada and Comox.
“Typically what we do is two open houses,” said Stephen Mayall, project manager for terminal construction, who presented the information at the meeting. “The first one is to consult and the second one is to inform.”
