Vancouver SeaBus ???

[Ken076]

Can you tell me a bit about the SeasBus? Where it departs? Where it Goes? thanks, Ken

[FP4BMO]

The seabus is part of the local transit system in Vancouver. There are 2 seabuses that criss cross the Burrard Inlet, one leaves from the Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver and the other leaves from Downtown Vancouver close to the Cruise ship terminal and goes to Lonsdale Quay. They just go back and forth, leaving about every 15 minutes. They are not a tour type attraction but do take you to the North Shore and great market place.

[Putterdude]

The SeaBus departs from the Waterfront Station which is located at the north foot of Granville St. about 100 paces east of Canada Place and takes you across Burrard Inlet, Vancouver's harbour, to Londsdale Quay which is just a block west of Lonsdale in North Vancouver. Lonsdale Quay itself is a festival market and there are many unique shops in the Lower Lonsdale area that you can walk too. The SeaBus fare is $2.50 (CDN) pp and it is good for 90 mins so if you carefully manage your time you could go back and forth on the same fare. On a nice day it is a great way to see Vancouver's harbour and skyline. Here is a link for your convenience:

http://www.translink.bc.ca/Transportation_Services/SeaBus/default.asp

[Urban trekker]

Actually PD that fare is the non-peak or weekend fare as it is a two zone fare doing other times which I think is now $3.75 each way so the idea of buying a day pass - good all zones after 9:00AM might also be an option.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Putterdude]

Yes, you are right of course it is $3.75 which I should have known. DW for for more than 20 years on Fridays would drive me down to the Quay and I would catch the SeaBus then walk up to the office in Vancouver Centre then she would meet after work at the Patterson Station in Burnaby and we would go to Lummi Island. It always burned my butt that I had to pay a 2 zone fare to cross the inlet and people can travel e/w across the city for a single zone. It was that doggone transclunk getting even with us north shore people but I digress. :mad: I am off to the big city in just a moment to pick up DW's 65 birthday gift.

[Urban trekker]

Congrats on DW 65th birthday.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[scottbee]

It always burned my butt that I had to pay a 2 zone fare to cross the inlet and people can travel e/w across the city for a single zone. It was that doggone transclunk getting even with us north shore people but I digress. :mad: I am off to the big city in just a moment to pick up DW's 65 birthday gift.

 

Operating/maintaining bridges/ferries is a lot more expensive than operating roads & buses.

 

If you feel burned, I had a friend who lives near Renfrew skytrain station. 2 stops to work @ Gilmore station was 2 zones. Vancouver should be split into more zones, and tickets should start at 2 zones.

 

Along the same lines, how do you think the residents of Surrey feel when their expanded bridge will have a toll on it when the bridges to the North Shore don't? Sound fair?

 

How about over-charging residents of Victoria on the BC Ferries (route 1 SWB-TSW) to subsidize all of the other routes?

 

Nothing is fair about transportation in BC, whoever yells loudest, and elects a friendly politician wins.

 

[Putterdude]

North Shore residents paid tolls on the bridges for year, as I recall they came off about 1962.

However I do agree about the politics of blacktop in this province. We have lost 2 BCF sailings in either direction for the winter. They may need to relook at the early Sunday morning one though as it was revealed today that we have doctors who come up to do locums at the hospital Sundays on the early sailing. Besides that I doubt that our gay, NDP MLA will be able do do anything for us.

[Urban trekker]

PD - hope that you and DW had a great little birthday celebration - what is the actual date.

 

As for the politics on this thread - the new Golden Ears bridge is a regional not a provincial undertaking and therefore the local taxpayers should be the one who pay for it not the taxpayer in Gibsons, Yaak, Atlin, Sparwood or Port Renfrew.

 

I believe PD can correct me but I believe the three main ferry routes meet there operating costs not just the Victoria run.

 

Keep in mind that something like 55% of all bus trips on the Translink system are in the City of Vancouver proper and all the runs more than cover there cost so should we pay a much lower single zone fare than say Surrey where some buses have so few passengers at certain times of the day that it would be cheaper to have them take the taxi.

 

Okay now that that is off my chest I will start packing for upcoming cruise - it's only 12 days until I leave for NYC and the Dawn Repo cruise - there will be about 20 CC'ers on this one that were on the same cruise last year.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[hello]

We will be in Vancouver from 9 am - 3 pm on a Saturday and would like to visit Granville Island. Can we do that by the SeaBus? Our ship arrives/departs at Canada Place. I was able to bring up the website -- but "I" wasn't able to answer my question. I was also able to read about the Skytrain. Would that be available from Canada Place and back? I believe it would take us to where we could catch one of the boats.

 

Thank you for any info.

[Urban trekker]

Granville Island is in the opposite direction of the sea bus - however Seabus does cross Burrard Inlet to Lonsdale Quay which in itself is worth a visit - lots of marketplace stores and craft shops as well as eateries + you can see across the harbour and your ship docked at Canada Place.

 

To get to Granville Island you could walk about 15 blocks along Howe or Hornby streets to the little aqua ferries that take you over to Granville Island or you could take the False Creek South #50 bus to the entrance of the market.

 

Skytrain is basically next door to Canada Place at Waterfront Station - it is possible to get to the platform from Canada Place - through Waterfront Center and into the loading area for Sky train - as your time is limited you will need to pick one of these options:

 

Here are some links to help you:

 

Granville Island Public Market:

 

http://www.granvilleisland.com/en/public_market

 

Lonsdale Quay:

 

http://www.lonsdalequay.com/

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Putterdude]

PD - hope that you and DW had a great little birthday celebration - what is the actual date.

 

 

I believe PD can correct me but I believe the three main ferry routes meet there operating costs not just the Victoria run.

 

Keep in mind that something like 55% of all bus trips on the Translink system are in the City of Vancouver proper and all the runs more than cover there cost so should we pay a much lower single zone fare than say Surrey where some buses have so few passengers at certain times of the day that it would be cheaper to have them take the taxi.

 

Okay now that that is off my chest I will start packing for upcoming cruise - it's only 12 days until I leave for NYC and the Dawn Repo cruise - there will be about 20 CC'ers on this one that were on the same cruise last year.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

Thanks for your greetings, I will pass them on, right now she is in Deadmonton visitng her 93 year old mother otherwise refered to as "Old Iron Jaws". The big BD is 10/23 and then we head for AZ on 10/25 so I will be off these boards for a week or so myself as we collapse the tent here and re-pitch it down there. So you have a good cruise.

I really don't know if for sure if Route 3, the Langdale/Horseshoe Bay route, is a contributor or not. There is a large advocacy group up here who say it is but I rather suspect it may not be particularly if depreciation and debt service on assets it put into the equation.

With regard to Transclunk, I have often wondered about the feasiblity or merit of having flexable zones relating to actual distance travelled, much like a cab. So pic a number, one zone would allow you to travel 5 miles and 2 zones would be 10 miles....you get the idea. The fixed zone unquestionably is beneficial to some and a disadvantage to others.

Back to the folding of the tent!:mad:

[hello]

Dennis,

 

Thank you so much! We had never heard of Lonsdale Quay -- but it certainly sounds more feasible for us! I did check the website you included, and it looks as though they have a farmers market every Saturday -- so we'll enjoy a market visit after all!

[kenish]

Here is a photo taken from the Lonsdale Quay Seabus terminal looking back at downtown Vancouver and Canada Place (FYI)

 

 

We took Seabus to North Vancouver to see Grouse Mountain and Capilano Bridge. It was around 9pm by the time we got back to LQ and took these photos. Most of the shops and eateries were closed so we returned downtown for dinner.

 

View from Seabus.....

[hello]

Nice photo's -- thank you.

[Putterdude]

Hello; I lived on the north shore of Vancouver for 50 years and just love Lonsdale Quay and the shops of the Lower Lonsdale area. In fact we were just back visiting last weekend and stayed at the Lonsdale Quay hotel. So with that I will tell you in all candor Granville Island is really the place to visit, the Lonsdale Quay is only a 10th of what Granville Island is. If I was a visitor to Vancouver it would Granville Island that I would want to visit.

[hello]

I just worry that with our time constraints we would be too rushed to try and get to, and then enjoy, Granville Island.

[dirtgirl]

Hello; I lived on the north shore of Vancouver for 50 years and just love Lonsdale Quay and the shops of the Lower Lonsdale area. In fact we were just back visiting last weekend and stayed at the Lonsdale Quay hotel. So with that I will tell you in all candor Granville Island is really the place to visit, the Lonsdale Quay is only a 10th of what Granville Island is. If I was a visitor to Vancouver it would Granville Island that I would want to visit.

 

 

Whereabouts on the NS? I have lived here almost my whole life. Grew up in the Delbrook area - went to North Star, Balmoral, then Carson. I am in Lynn Valley now, raising my family.;)

[kenish]

I just worry that with our time constraints we would be too rushed to try and get to, and then enjoy, Granville Island.

 

You're welcome on the photos. We went to Granville in the morning and later to North Shore. You will have plenty of time for GI. From the transit hub near Canada Place a bus takes 20 minutes; it's a 10 minute walk from there. The bus crosses a bridge going over GI, then you get off the bus and walk along and under the street. It will be obvious once you're there. By the way, it's not really an island!

 

 

 

There are lots of cafes, market stalls, bakeries, etc. Definitely bring your appetites, wander around, and graze. We made the mistake of eating before we got on the bus. Two hours on GI is plenty, maybe another hour if you are really into art and want to visit the galleries on the east half of the island.

 

[scottbee]

I really don't know if for sure if Route 3, the Langdale/Horseshoe Bay route, is a contributor or not. There is a large advocacy group up here who say it is but I rather suspect it may not be particularly if depreciation and debt service on assets it put into the equation.

 

They're not very easy to find (not on the BC Ferries website), but the information they have to provide the ferry commission provides the answer

 

http://www.bcferrycommission.com/BCFSReport_to_Commiss0708_copy.pdf starting on pg 27. You're looking for the numbers in the row: "Route Earnings (Loss) Before Ferry Service Fees & Federal Contract" (ie before subsidies)

 

Profit (Loss) on routes (all numbers in thousands $)

Group 1;

Rt 1 SWB-TSW 35,536

Rt 2 HSB-NAN 14,285

Rt 30 DUK-TSW (12,996)

subTotal: 36,825

Group 2;

Rt 3 HSB-LAN (2,174)

Total all routes: (92,516)

 

BC Ferries as a whole; $92,516,000 loss.

 

If it weren't for the Vancouver Island routes, the loss would be $129,341,000. Which means the residents of Vancouver Island end up subsidizing a huge chunk (28.5%) of the the losses for all of the other routes.

 

Given the central island crossings (Rt2&30) just about zero each other out, it means that the residents of Greater Victoria (300,000) end up covering a quarter of all of the losses on all the other routes. $35m /300,000 people is more than $100/year per person. Ah, but I hear you say; What about all the non Victoria people that ride that ferry. Where to they ride it to? Victoria. Economically it works out to the same thing, it raises the cost of doing or attracting business to Victoria.

 

How bad is the gouge on route 1?

Ticket Revenue: $147,145,000 Profit: $35,536,000

or just under 25% of a ticket (after all expenses) on Route 1 is pure profit.

To put it in real numbers, it means that about $600,000/year is paid by residents of Great Victoria to subsidize Route 3 to the sunshine coast (on top of any general revenue from federal or provincial taxes from all taxpayers).

 

And Route 3 on the sunshine coast isn't really that bad; Rt 7 (EarlsCove-Saltery Bay) loses $9.7m /year (or $2.75m from the pocket of Victoria residents) and so on....

 

While I hear lots of people on small islands, or inaccessible coastal communities complaining about the price of ferries, no one listens to how badly the CRD (Capital Regional District) gets shafted by the ferry corporation.

 

 

[Putterdude]

Whereabouts on the NS? I have lived here almost my whole life. Grew up in the Delbrook area - went to North Star, Balmoral, then Carson. I am in Lynn Valley now, raising my family.;)

 

Grew up in North Lonsdale area went to North Star and an number of other schools on the "shore" and graduated from Argyle in 1964. After marriage DW and I lived in North Lonsdale for 35 years 28 of which were in the Princess Park area. We move up here to Sechelt after retirement a little over 4 years ago.

[Urban trekker]

PD - your DW birthday 10/23 is the same as one of my best friends - although he is a few years younger.

 

Yes it could be quiet on these boards while you head south and I sail off into wild blue yonder.

 

Good Lions game last night - not so good Canucks performance.

 

ScottBee - thanks for the info on the ferry rates - wonder if a similar document exists for Translink - would be interesting to see the subsidy rates on some of the suburban runs vs the profitibility of the City runs.

 

Out for a bike ride as the weather appears to be clearing off.

 

Do agree with PD - that Granville Island market is the bigger of the two and you get local farmer's there year round - Granville Island at one time was a true island but the previous industrial development lead to the infill near the current entrance to the Island.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis