A long-awaited Q2Q connection finally became a reality last weekend, although, like the connection itself, it’s only going to be a short ride initially.
With little advance notice, the city kicked off a two-month trial run ferry service between the Westminster Quay and Queensborough with a free preview. The Q to Q demonstration service, as the city calls it, will be offered on Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays throughout August and September. It will also run Friday evenings in August during Fridays on Front. Fares will be $2 for adults 16-and-over, $1 for kids and seniors, and free for those under five.
Despite some late snags, including the installation of a new downtown dock, the service, which can accommodate up to 40 passengers and four bicycles, was up and running Saturday morning. And despite the word only getting out via social media Friday morning, plenty of passengers showed up.
“It was very, very popular. We had so much interest, because it was a free weekend service, we actually had lineups. People had to wait a sailing,” said Mark Allison, strategic initiatives and sustainability manager for the city.
Mayor Jonathan Coté was one of those testing it out taking his daughters over to Queensborough for a walk and bike ride.
“This past weekend, seeing how well the service was used when we had very little advertising beforehand, I think is definitely a good sign,” said Coté.
The mayor said the ferry could potentially help connect the communities. The passenger surveys being taken during the trial will help determine what direction the city takes. In particular, Coté wants to find out if residents would use it for regular transportation or commuting to work since the downtown dock is so close to SkyTrain.
“My expectation would next year we would actually continue the pilot, but potentially expand its hours based on the feedback we get from the pilot this year. Then after those two seasons are complete, then the city would decide do we want this to be a permanent service? And, if so, we would obviously figure out what the hours of operation that would be most successful. We would want to definitely address the accessibility issue to make sure a permanent ramp and potentially a customized boat would be done to make sure it was fully accessible if this became a permanent service.”
In a blog on the weekend, Coun. Patrick Johnstone cautioned the ferry doesn’t come close to the transportation link New Westminster needs.
“To be such a link, it needs to be reliable, available for daily users, and fully accessible. The trial ferry is going to fall short of this,” wrote Johnstone.
Council has wanted a pedestrian bridge between the communities for a long time. A decade ago, the city received $10 million for that connection as part of an agreement to allow a destination casino to be built in Queensborough. The city later reallocated $8 million of that money to building the Anvil Centre. However, as of January, $6 million of it had not been spent.
Four years ago, city council rejected a less-expensive concept that would have seen a twinning of the train swing bridge. Determining who would open and close the bridge would have been an issue, though. The current train bridge is only occasionally closed when a train crosses. An at-grade connection would be the opposite, only swinging open for marine traffic in the channel. A report to council last year pegged the cost of building an optimal connection with a 20-metre clearance above the water, at $39.1 million.
After that sobering news, the city decided to test run a ferry service. The first thought was a water taxi service like those in Vancouver’s False Creek. That idea was sunk when the city realized the vessels wouldn’t be sturdy enough to handle the fast-flowing Fraser River.
“Although those are very adorable boats, they probably would not fair too well on the Fraser River,” said Coté.
Allison said originally the trial service was to be for a full year, throughout the day, but the city decided before making a large, long-term investment the demonstration period would provide some exposure for the service to see what demand there was.
Despite the opening weekend’s success, Allison admitted a truer test of the ferry’s popularity will come this weekend when fares, which he said are comparable to transit fares, are instituted.
The province approved use of some of the development assistance compensation funds from the casino to pay for the new downtown dock ramp and its installation, which Allison estimated cost $125,000.
In its annual budget, council approved $500,000 for a trial service, including $300,000 for its operation. “That’s because we thought whether or not it was a bridge or a ferry it would cost about $300,000 in annual operating costs,” said Allison.
The downtown dock is underneath the Inn at the Quay beside the Samson V boat museum. The existing public dock in Port Royal on the south side of the peninsula, just off of Salter Street, will be used on the Queensborough side. Exact change will be required at the dock, but ferry tokens can be purchased at the Anvil Centre, Queensborough Community Centre (reported) and Tre Galli Gelato in River Market.
The weekend sailings will be every 20 minutes from each dock starting at 9 a.m. downtown, and 9:10 a.m. from Port Royal. They will run until 7 p.m., although there will be no sailings during four scheduled crew breaks. The Friday runs are between 5 and 9 p.m.
The MV Hollyburn is operated by Western Pacific Marine. It runs the Barnston Island ferry in the Fraser River along with two ferries in the Kootenays and one that connects Parksville/Qualicum Beach to Lasqueti Island.
