It sounds too good to be true, Tom Bruusgaard admitted: a commuter ferry that can take people to downtown Vancouver in 45 minutes.
Better yet, it doesn't need a terminal, just a platform.
"You have to see this in order to believe this," he said.
For the past six years, Bruusgaard, a former chairman of the Squamish Oceanfront Development Corp., has been in contact with a B.C. company working on a "high-speed, craft platform." Still in its early phases, the company isn't willing to go public yet, Bruusgaard said, but he's hoping the craft will be tested in Squamish this spring.
"It's a different kind of technology that will be able to drive high-speed in comfort," he said, noting that if testing is successful, he sees the vessel benefitting communities throughout Howe Sound.
Bruusgaard has written a letter to the District of Squamish requesting that the municipality allow the company to conduct its trials at the oceanfront. He expects the company will unveil its product early this summer.
"They are currently building a boat," Bruusgaard said.
The ferry service sounds too good to be true because it likely is, warned transit user and watchdog Murray Gamble. Studies indicate ferries need to transport 250 to 350 people at a time before they start turning a profit, he wrote in an email to The Chief.
"Even if we found the hundreds of millions of dollars to buy vessels and create the terminals, we don't have the ability to deliver the people in Squamish," he stated.
Gamble questioned the 45-minute ride. As with buses and cars, vessels have speed limits within harbours. In the summer, Squamish's waterfront is busy with kiteboarders, sailing boats and Squamish Terminals shipping traffic, Gamble noted. Approaching Vancouver, vessels would have to cross three ferry routes and deal with cruise ship, freighter and float plane traffic.
"It is perfectly alright to entertain ourselves with thoughts of fast ferries, high-speed rail tunnels through the mountain and energy/mass transfer like on Star Trek," Gamble wrote. "The reality is that the most likely form of transit between Squamish and Vancouver is a bus service."
For that, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLDR) needs to look to TransLink, Gamble said. Last month, a Squamish/Vancouver commuter bus idea stole the show at two transit workshops on the North Shore. When TransLink officials asked participants to vote on top priorities, a new Sea to Sky Highway route from downtown Vancouver to Park Royal and then north to Squamish was the most popular.
"I'm not suggesting that the SLRD rush out and join the ranks of TransLink, but we need to get our heads around the fact that they are one of the models that people around the world come to study," Gamble stated. "That bus service already exists to within 30 kilometres of Squamish."
