THURSDAY AUGUST 30, 2018 VOL. 44, NO. 33
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GOOD LUCK STUDENTS
The Undercurrent wishes everyone returning to school a happy fall term. BICS students start September 4, so drivers watch for little ones crossing the road.
How many people are visiting Bowen? BRONWYN BEAIRSTO EDITOR
Last week the Undercurrent quoted Tourism Bowen chair Murray Atherton as saying that they were on track to have double the visitors they did last year. Atherton has since said this guesstimation was too generous. The Undercurrent has done a deeper dive into the complexities of enumerating Bowen tourists. A Monday morning gander down Trunk Road’s ferry lineup reveals the usual suspects: the commuters, the high school students and the weekenders. Then there are those parked in the yellow crosshatch: the tourists. Measuring tourism on Bowen is tricky, but there are a few indicators. BC Ferries has steadily seen more passengers in recent years. This past year has seen a six per cent increase in ferry traffic to Bowen. A total of 621,222 people passed through the Snug Cove terminal in the 20172018 fiscal year (ending March 31,) up from 586,184 people the year before. July, the height of the tourist season, historically sees the most ferry traffic and 2018 was no exception. Snug Cove hosted more than 68,000 passengers in July alone. That’s a 3,000-passenger increase from the year before. As a baseline comparison, February, the month with the least Horseshoe Bay-to-Bowen ferry traffic, had just under 40,000 passengers in 2018. Continued on page 8
Dancing the rain away. Kelly Konno (in red vest) leads a group of dancers down Trunk Road during Saturday’s Bowfest parade. This year’s theme was Carnival and despite some showers, the parade proceeded with cheering crowds and smiling participants. We’ve got coverage on page 3 and more pictures on page 9.
The headaches of growth: BC Ferries update SUSANNA BRAUND FERRY ADVISORY COMM.
Last week, in my capacity as chair of the Bowen Island Ferry Advisory Committee I attended a full-day meeting with the chairs of the other 12 FACs, representing the other smaller routes in the BC Ferries system. The meeting followed a break-
fast meeting with Mark Collins, the CEO of BC Ferries, and four other members of the management team. I can report that the ferry service is busier than ever. This will not be a surprise to anyone who travels regularly! The 2017-18 fiscal year saw a record number of vehicles carried through the system. It is expected that passenger numbers
will be at an all-time record this year. BC Ferries is both pleased and dismayed at this. Pleased, because all profits go back into the system to pay off debt. Dismayed, because all this traffic means crowded ferries, overloads and unhappy customers. In fact, there are overloads happening on routes which have
never experienced overloads before, such as the 15-minute run between Graham Island and Moresby Island in Haida Gwaii. Collins announced more ferry runs to deal with the constant overloads on the Gabriola Island and Quadra Island routes. Continued on page 3