Tag Archives: Nicolas Jimenez

Health, Indigenous Nations, Politics, Transportation

Area C Director’s Report: update on UBCM advocacy

Hello, 
The past week was a blur of learning, advocating, and networking as I was immersed for five and a half days at the annual Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention which this year took place in lovely Victoria BC.

Along with study sessions, learning workshops, discussion forums, and plenary sessions from early morning till late afternoon, UBCM provides an opportunity for regional districts and municipalities to advocate on their priority issues with provincial Ministers and to meet with provincial staff as well. This report shares an update on advocacy the SRD Board & I engaged in, representing regional and community concerns with the Province.

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Transportation

Planned price increases; dismantling FAC’s – Changes Coming To BC Ferries 

As some of you may have already heard, BC Ferries is going through changes. They range from a total revamp of the way they have been engaging with the public, to  expenses that probably won’t effect fares until 2028.

Let’s start with finances. BC Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez recently informed the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce the cost to build ferries has risen 40% since 2020. Speaking as a customer, my immediate thought was this sounds like there is a fare hike coming. 

Jeff Groot, BC Ferries Executive Director in charge of communications, responded “I think that’s a fair reaction. There’s a couple of things that we’re experiencing right now.”  

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Transportation

Four fully electric BC Ferries vessels scheduled for 2027

BC Ferries (BCF) is expanding its number of Island Class hybrid-electric vessels, with four more contracted to Damen Shipyards Group (Damen) as per their Jan. 16 press release.

While the six Island Class ships currently operating on various routes across the province use both electric and diesel power, the future ships are designed to run solely on battery, with the diesel engine as a fail-safe.

Two routes are slated to receive a pair of the future ships to operate the respective connections in tandem: Nanaimo-Gabriola and Campbell River-Quadra (Quathiaski Cove). Currently older versions of Island Class vessels operate on these routes. In contrast, the newest ships will be built to run powered solely by rapid-charging technology that will be constructed at the terminals to coincide with the 2027 deployment. The Island Class electrification project is estimated to reduce emissions by 10,000 tons of CO2 equivalent.

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Transportation

Changes coming to the local ferries in 2027, and directions for the years beyond

BC Ferries announced a series of changes coming in 2027,  including new vessels for the Campbell River and Cortes Island routes and the next steps towards electrifying the fleet.

“We’ve received approval from the ferries commissioner to procure  four new vessels, hybrid electric, and they will bring new capacity into the system. This is great news. In addition to that,  as part of this capital investment that will be electrifying, or putting a lot more power into, two routes that are going to eventually be able to run these hybrid battery electric vessels in the way that they’re built. For the purposes of the investment being announced today, it’s just  two routes, Nanaimo to Gabriola and  Campbell River to Quadra that will be serviced with this capacity to actually run these vessels in their electric form,” explained Nicolas Jimenez, CEO of BC Ferries.

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Tourism, Transportation

BC Ferries frustrates tourists ​– ​but they’re still lining up to come here

Originally published on qathet Living

So far this summer, 18 guests have cancelled their accommodations at the Old Courthouse Inn, due to problems with BC Ferries.

“It would have been many more, but I talked a lot of them down,” explained Kelly Belanger, who has owned the Inn for 11 years, and says he has never seen a summer like this before ​– ​​featuring unpredictable ferry overloads and cancellations.

“Most guests just look at the chaos as it’s being reported on the news, and believe they won’t be able to get here, so they call to cancel. I tell them, ‘No, actually, ferries are usually reliable. Get there two hours before your sailing and you’ll probably get on.’

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