Dear Darryl,
I’d like to make a complete and unconditional public apology for the comment below. We had been waiting for a reply for quite sometime from the Salt Spring Chamber of Commerce. I missed your submission to the Driftwood on page 6 yesterday and made a terrible assumption without vetting, for which we all apologize for. You did come through, a sincere thank you!
A couple of comments about your piece. We completely agree with the thrust of your comments an to the State of both Route 4 and 6. The proposed suggestion of the 2 Ferry Service on Route 6 is modelled after the New 2 Ferry Service on Route 19 Nanaimo - Gabriola Island using the 2 New Island Class ECO Ferries. They plan on having service every 40 min. The Island Class Ferries are quite speedy at 12 kts plus, so 40 min turnarounds sound reasonable. Like Route 19 peak demand hours are generally from 0700 to 1900. As with Route 19 one ship is tied up at 1900 and then operate the remainder of the evening schedule with 1 vessel. True there is nowhere to currently tie up the spare vessel but that’s something they dealt with at the Nanaimo Terminal on Route 19. We don’t see that as an obstacle to providing proper service on Route 6. With the Salish Heron about to be commissioned on Route 5 - Southern Gulf Islands, that potentially frees up the Queen of Cumberland which is proper fit for Route 4 during Peak Travel Demand throughout the year. If BC Ferries could come to terms with this sort of solution it would instantly mitigate traffic gridlock at all 3 Terminals Fulford Harbour, Vesuvius Bay and Crofton. What we do is put vehicles on ferries with the increase in service interval of 1 Hr. Instead of making BC Ferries Parking Lots out of our Roadway's for the last 10 years.
There’s really interesting topic that’s going around currently. Can BC Ferries prevent two way traffic at all 3 Terminals legally? We know it’s been an accepted practice for years but is it legal? There’s an Agreement that is dated November 1992 between BC Highways and the Island’s Trust. Making BC Ferries parking lots out of our Roadway's was not part of the Agreement.
Best Regards, David.
Mobile 250-537-7771.
Patrons of Route 6
On Jan 26, 2022, at 11:59 PM, DG Courtney <vrcourtney@gmail.com> wrote:
Darryl Martin, sadly your piece didn't make it into the Driftwood this week on behalf of the 200+ Businesses you serve. Respectfully, you should consider removing yourself from the FAC and convince Kylie Coates to resume his position. He's actually the only individual Member of the FAC we've heard from in the last 4 weeks. You seem to be acting very much like your conflicted by the Chair & De-Facto Chair of the SSI FAC - Swierenga & Holman.