Monday, March 18, 2019 ~ COLWOOD
~ by Mary P Brooke, West Shore Voice News
BC Ferries is looking at a fast-catamaran passenger-only ferry service linking west shore communities to downtown Victoria and Esquimalt.
Proposed terminals for the “Westshore Express” would be at the old quarry site at Royal Bay in Colwood, in the outer Esquimalt Harbour at the Pacific Fleet Club building, and at Ship Point near downtown Victoria.
This is a huge opportunity for the Colwood municipality. If BC Ferries decides to proceed, it could be a fast growth-injector to the local Colwood economy.
Vessels could carry up to 294 foot passengers at a crossing speed of 25 knots; opening year 2021 would serve 3,100 passengers daily on two routes, with an annual revenue of $2.2 million (based on fares being the same as bus transit, i.e. $2.50). If fares were higher, there would be profit in the first year.
This would take a lot of cars off Highway 1, instead routing them into Colwood to the Royal Bay waterfront area. It’s not clear if an increased traffic load on municipal roadways would create new problems.
The pre-feasibility Westshore Express study by the large engineering firm SNC-Lavalin was delivered as a draft to BC Ferries back on December 19, 2018 and released publicly on March 5, 2019.
“BC Ferries is at a very preliminary stage in determining the feasibility of a passenger-only service and will be engaging in discussions with a variety of stakeholders,” says Mayor Martin. “Once the stakeholders have reviewed the pre-feasibility study, the group will determine if the concept is worthy of further study.”
No decisions have been made at this stage.
Given the fact that the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has recently announced a southern Vancouver Island Transportation Strategy for long-term, innovative, multi-modal solutions to address traffic congestion, BC Ferries shared the report with them. “The report may be helpful in their efforts to find solutions for the region,” says Colwood’s mayor.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps has a vested interest in the bus transit option that has been pushed heavily in the last few years, including some recent new bus lane development on Highway 1/Douglas Street (northbound finished last year, and southbound recently funded for construction to start soon). Her remarks to media today included hoping not to see a harbour-to-harbour ferry compete with on-road bus use. But it would seem there is plenty of pent-up commuter demand for options. Buses in the west shore could deliver passengers to the ferry terminal.
Langford Mayor Stew Young sees opportunities for regional growth, with benefits all the way around. “A west shore express passenger ferry is a great idea,” he told West Shore Voice News. “It would be good for west shore residents that have to commute to Victoria. A quick trip to Port Angeles from there as well would be a good consideration to make a terminal more financially viable”
Westshore developers and businesses would benefit in both Colwood and Langford. “It would create a few jobs and a new tax base for Colwood residents and be a spectacular location for everyone to visit,” said Langford’s Mayor, about the neighbouring Colwood municipal options.
Bus transit is being heavily promoted by BC Transit and MOTI as a component of alleviating west shore traffic congestion. The bus route from Westhills and through Langford to downtown is one of the highest-use routes in the Greater Victoria area, said BC Transit during a presentation on March 4 to Langford council.
This news was first published on page 2 in the March 15, 2019 print-PDF weekend digest of West Shore Voice News.