BC Ferries and the BC Ferry Authority have launched a joint visioning initiative called ‘Charting the Course,’ which may help shape the future of this service for years to come. In today’s story, Deborah Marshall, Executive Director for Public Affairs and Marketing for BC Ferries, describes the survey and also answered some specific questions about the Cortes and Quadra Island routes.
Continue reading Envisioning The Future of BC Ferries on the Cortes and Quadra Ferry Routes
There was a marked decrease in the number of BC Ferries cancellations on the Campbell River run this past quarter, but little change on the Cortes Island Ferry.
According to the corporations newly released report of cancellations statistics from July to September 2023, the new hybrid e-ferries only missed 24 sailings as opposed to 161 the previous quarter.
Continue reading BC Ferries Cancellations This Past Six MonthsThe Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) just released a report on the carbon footprint made by longer distance trips to and from Cortes Island.
Many of their findings are to be expected. Taking a plane off the island creates a great deal more emissions than driving a car, and people who carpool or take a bus are responsible for only a fraction of that vehicle’s pollution.
One of the biggest contributors to our local footprint is the Cortes-Quadra ferry, which creates approximately 1 kg of carbon emissions for every walk-on and 12 kg for every car.
Continue reading The carbon footprint of longer distance travel to and from Cortes Island
Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
B.C. Ferries abruptly cancelled all public community meetings and shifted local ferry committee meetings online Wednesday to protect employees citing a spike in aggression that includes gun threats and acts of vandalism.
Public notice about moving the Cortes Island and Quadra Island ferry advisory committee (FAC) meeting online, and the outright cancellation of a subsequent community town hall session happened within hours of the two events scheduled for mid-day and at 3:30 p.m. respectively.
It’s not entirely clear if it was a single incident or a compilation of incidents at different events that caused the cancellations, said Diana Mumford, chair of the Southern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee.
Continue reading Abuse, weapons threats to BC Ferries staff put public meetings on holdCortes Island’s Ferry Advisory committee met (via Webex, a Zoom-like conferencing app) on the afternoon of Wednesday September 27th at 12:30pm. The meeting had originally been scheduled as a “town hall” style event at Mansons Hall; however, at the last minute BC Ferries announced that their FAC meetings would be held online, due to threats of violence from the public.
Though such threatening behaviour seemed unlikely on Cortes Island, BCF’s policy apparently applies across the board. The last-minute change of venue caused some confusion, but approximately thirty people joined the videoconference call on Wednesday (including BC Ferries staff and FAC members).
Continue reading Ferry Advisory Committee: Cortes and Quadra talk to BC Ferries
