Vancouver city council approves electric passenger ferry service

Vancouver city council has unanimously approved a plan to introduce an electric passenger ferry service connecting downtown to two coastal communities.

Vancouver city council unanimously approved a plan that could see an electric ferry service connecting downtown Vancouver with two coastal communities.

The motion was tabled Wednesday by independent Coun. Rebecca Bligh, who called the project a “transformational” step to connect the region.

The passenger ferry would operate from Vancouver, with routes to Bowen Island and Gibsons.

“It’s an incredibly important time to get more folks in the downtown core, particularly post-pandemic, because we see people coming back to the office,” she said.

The ferry, operated by Greenline Ferries, will be pollution-free and is estimated to save around 500 car trips per year.

Greenline said trips from the mainland to Bowen Island are expected to take 40 minutes, while trips to Gibsons will take around 70.

• Read more: Electric passenger ferry could connect Vancouver to Bowen Island, Gibsons

Support from mayors, tourism operators

The motion received support from the mayors of Gibsons, Bowen Island, and Sechelt.

“More and more people want to use public transit,” said John Henderson, the mayor of Sechelt.

“And indeed, the capacity on BC Ferries isn’t enough to sustain the growth that we’re having.”

Paul Vallee, a director with Tourism Bowen Island, said tourism operators are also on board.

“The Greenline passenger ferry service will help address transportation needs of visitors and our community in an environmentally friendly way,” Vallee said.

Mike Shannon, a Bowen Island resident who operated a water taxi for nearly a decade between the Mainland and Bowen, said he’s wary of the plan.

“If you’re not cheaper than BC Ferries or equivalent to BC Ferries, you’re just not going to have a consistent ridership,” he said. “That is a big thing. You can have the best scenery in the world, but being in a small vessel at night, in the wintertime, it’s not ideal.”

The project is valued at $60 million and will be partly financed through private funders, as well as a federal government program for non-road zero-emission transportation called the “Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit,” according to Greenline.

Coal Harbour site

Callum Campbell, the founder of Greenline Ferries, said he spent two and a half years searching for a landing spot, eventually identifying a location at Harbour Green Dock for the electric charging stations.

“It’s adjacent to West Cordova, it’s close to ride hails, car shares, it’s a two-minute walk to the Canada Line,” he said.

Despite this, at Wednesday’s meeting of the Standing Committee on City Finance and Services, ABC Coun. Mike Klassen tabled an amendment to Bligh’s motion, directing staff to engage with stakeholders such as TransLink, Cadillac Fairview and Hullo Ferries.

“I prefer that we, through an engagement process, really exhaust all options,” he said.

Campbell said the timing to find a suitable dock site is important.

He added it can take up to 16 months to build the ferries and an order cannot be made until a location is secured.

“We don’t have a business until we have a Vancouver landing spot,” he said.