Modified schedule costs business owners

Two business owners brought their concerns about the modified schedule on the Saltery Bay-Earls Cove route to BC Ferries officials last week.

Ann-Marie Milne, co-owner of Texada Transfer, and Karen Skadsheim, instigator of Townsite Brewing Ltd., talked about the impact the schedule had on their businesses during the November 1 meeting of the Northern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee.

BC Ferries modified the Saltery Bay-Earls Cove schedule because of the slower speed of the replacement vessel, the Queen of Chilliwack. According to a company statement, the schedule was aligned with the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale schedule to “promote more reliable connections for customers travelling between the Northern Sunshine Coast and Metro Vancouver.”

The first sailing of the day leaves Saltery Bay at 4:15 am and it arrives at Langdale about 10 minutes too late to connect with the 6:20 am sailing. Ferry users have to wait close to two hours to catch the 8:20 am sailing, the sailing they would have connected to on the first sailing of the old schedule.

Milne said she was paying three to four hours a day in extra pay. “We get to Vancouver either that much later or we have to get up two hours earlier to get there the same time we got there before,” she said.

The Lower Sunshine Coast is the destination for only one to two per cent of travellers on the route, Milne pointed out. “Why is that ferry not always having the ultimate connector on the other side, not making us miss it by five minutes and waiting an hour and 45 minutes for the next one?” she asked. “It’s bad business for you guys to run like that, it’s bad business for everybody.”

Although BC Ferries isn’t forcing people to speed, by setting up the schedule the way it is, people will try to make up 10 minutes to catch the connecting ferry, Milne said. “We’re prisoners of BC Ferries, because, unless we can fly, we can not get out,” she said. “Why isn’t the schedule not made so it’s time efficient for all people?”

Skadsheim’s presentation was about both the modified schedule and the summer schedule. While the modified schedule is an anomaly, she said, it only has two connections that work well. She also said while the winter schedule worked well for her business, the summer schedule doesn’t, because the company’s delivery truck can’t arrive in the Lower Mainland until noon, when traffic is increasing and parking spots are disappearing.

As well, the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale schedule changes during the week, while the Saltery Bay-Earls Cove schedule remains the same, Skadsheim pointed out. “What this means is that connections that are possible to make one day are not possible the following day,” she said. “If you are going to make changes to the Langdale-Horseshoe Bay schedule, it seems to me that you should make appropriate changes to the Saltery Bay-Earls Cove schedule so that these connections can be maintained throughout the summer.”

MLA Nicholas Simons, who represents Powell River-Sunshine Coast, attended the meeting and told BC Ferries officials he would like to send them a proposed schedule he said was created by crew on the Chilliwack. The crew is confident the vessel could manage the schedule they created, Simons said, while the current schedule is disrupting many people’s lives. “I agree a hundred per cent that we can’t tell people how to drive, but I do hear from people who take the 4:15 and proudly say they got the 6:20,” he said. “I do represent the unfortunate folks who live on the lower coast as well who stand by the highway and wait for their school buses. You know there are vehicles barrelling down the highway.”

Captain Al de Koninck, marine superintendent, said the company looks at all concerns and how they fit into the big picture. “If we need to make adjustments, we can do that,” he said, adding company officials would look at the proposed schedule.

De Koninck also asked the FAC to make a recommendation about the summer schedule. “Does the FAC and the community as a whole favour maintaining the one schedule year-round on Route 7 and not going to the summer schedule?” he asked.

Bill Cripps, FAC chair, said the committee would discuss the topic at its next meeting.