BC Ferries representatives presented preliminary plans for alternative service during the upgrades of the Westview and Little River terminals at three open houses last week.
The events, in Powell River, Comox and on Texada Island, gave residents an opportunity to provide input before the plans are finalized.
Darin Guenette, manager, public affairs, explained BC Ferries had to upgrade both terminals. “These terminals have an expected life span and it’s time to upgrade them so we get 40 more years out of them,” he said.
Work on the terminals is expected to take place from January 12 to March 9, 2014. Hydraulic ramps will be installed at both terminals, as well as a two-lane tressel. The wing walls and towers will also be replaced. In Westview, plans call for a barrier between the walkway and vehicles and wider sidewalks. The new ramps will provide for full “inter-operability” among all minor and intermediate vessels in the fleet.
From January 12 to February 7, 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, leaving Departure Bay at 5 am and 6:35 pm and Saltery Bay at 8:35 am and 10 pm.
Captain Al de Koninck, marine superintendent for the north islands, told the approximately 35 people who attended the meeting in Powell River on Tuesday, February 19, that the Island Sky ran into a gale with 55-knot winds and three metre waves last year during a trial run after some work had been completed on the vessel. “She was fine,” he said, adding later in the meeting that because of the vessel’s hull design, it pushes water away during heavy seas, instead of it coming over the sides and into the car deck.
During the first part of the project, BC Ferries is arranging flights from Powell River to Comox, at the cost of a passenger fare, leaving at 8 am from Powell River and 5 pm from Comox airport. Priority will be given to passengers with medical appointments and there will be shuttle service to Courtenay, Comox and Campbell River, as well as from Westview to Powell River airport.
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, leaving Little River at 5:45 am, 2 pm and 7:30 pm and leaving Saltery Bay at 8:35 am, 5 pm and 10:20 pm.
As a result of input received from previous stakeholder consultation meetings, BC Ferries decided to stop on Texada to pick up or drop off customers. The Island Sky will stop at Blubber Bay on the way to the island in the morning and in the evening on the 7:30 pm sailing from Little River.
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, with the vessel leaving Blubber Bay at 6 am, 2:15 pm and 7:25 pm and leaving Saltery Bay at 8:40 am, 4:50 pm and 10:05 pm.
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.
Guenette said the meeting on Texada was constructive, with about 70 people attending. Participants had a number of questions, including how peak runs on the water taxi will be handled, if Texada residents will be ensured they can make the sailings from Saltery Bay, if flights could be arranged directly from Texada and how provincial government medical forms will be handled on the Island Sky.
A majority of the people who attended the Comox open house were commercial customers, Guenette said, and one of the suggestions was to provide drop-trailer service on the Island Sky.
BC Ferries personnel will be researching all those points, Guenette explained, and returning in May or June with a finalized plan. “We go away, look at those details and do the best we can,” he said.
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