Thursday, February 18, 2016

Downtown Ferry Service Funding In Place?

IFSL President appearing before Council

Dr. Stewart Vinnels, President, Island Ferry Services Ltd. will be appearing at the COW meeting of Council this coming Monday, Feb. 22/16.

The information provided on the agenda for the meeting says that Dr. Vinnels will be briefing Council on the funding confirmation for Island Ferries and to discuss investor's proposals to move this project to implementation.   

allvoices

19 comments:

  1. No way !! can it be true ??

    I won't believe it until I am actually buying a ticket, and the boat is bobbing in front of me

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  2. How much will the city/taxpayers be asked to contribute? Whatever the amount, I hope nothing is promised.

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  3. I am so tired of the taxpayer 'lament' in this town. Even if they did ask, it would be a worthy income generator in the long run. Infrastructure and transportation, two indispensable items in any city.

    ps I doubt they are asking for any, so relax :-)

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    Replies
    1. i am so tired of people like yourself eager to give everyone else's money away. by all means, chip in only your own if you are so enamored.

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    2. So if this isn't a good community project, what is ?
      are we supposed to just put the money away, and never spend on our community ?

      what nonsense you spout !

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    3. Give the money back to cash-strapped taxpayers.

      What nonsense to keep spending! And put everyone else in debt.

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    4. Ah there is the conundrum, We need to spend money to make money ! Maybe we wouldn't be so cash strapped if we had more going for us, in this little town. The only way to do that is invest, and expand, and, I dunno---try :-)

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    5. I watched the lead story on CBC's National News this week yapping about trying to cool the high house prices in Van. $1.4 million, the realtor said, was a "starter home"!

      So we want to bring all those rich folk to Nan and have our house prices skyrocket?

      I guess if you want to sell and make a buck, and not really live here anymore, makes sense (dollars).

      If you're a local and want to buy a house it would skyrocket right out of your budget and you'd be living in....??? Well, I guess as long as you camp on provincial government property you're okay...for a while.

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    6. I guess if you want a rotting, depressed little town, with 'for lease' signs all over, crumbling inner suburbs, and slowly depleting city coffers . We could always burn down our docks and say 'no more mainlanders allowed'

      change happens, no matter how hard you wish it away. So how about we 'change' with style.

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  4. Thank goodness this outfit, or any other for that matter, got any money from city taxpayers or our bucks the federal Conservatives promised if re-elected!

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  5. Great,this a major contributor towards increasing the tourist and business traffic to Nanamio. 100 percent for it even if we have to contribute some tax dollars

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    Replies
    1. Hey if it flies WITHOUT any government help whatsoever - go for it! (But don't forget about 4 other tries at a fast boat from Nan-Van FAILED)

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  6. Wonder what impact if any the B.C. Ferry plans of up to 30% off peak sailings will have on the foot ferry's financial plan? Have heard nothing from the Mayor saying that a reduced B.C. Ferry fares could be good for tourist, wonder why?

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    Replies
    1. If a fast ferry was such a good money maker, why wouldn't BC Ferries do it?

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    2. tourists don't come equipped with cars, and just try and catch a ferry on foot, a horror show for out- of- towers. An all day, lost on the mainland fiasco, could be become a walk on walk off dream with harbour to harbour service-----is why

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    3. maybe they see it as needless redundancy , since they already 'have' ferries that need to make money ----just saying

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    4. Again, if it could fly, why isn't BC Ferries doing it? What a good PR stunt; bring tourists to the island, a walk-on fast boat, less congestion and pollution from not bringing a car. Wow. Novel idea BC Gov't! Heck, you could even redesign, if needed, a Gabriola dock and fast boat dock and use same staff and facilities to save money!

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    5. Agreed, but whoever does it, let's finally get it done. This made in Nanaimo purgatory over 'everything' is painful, no ?

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  7. Commuting from Nanaimo is possible... if you have about $40,000 a year to spare, or an extra five hours a day


    BY SCOTT BROWN, VANCOUVER SUN FEBRUARY 24, 2016



    STORYPHOTOS ( 1 )

    Commuting from Nanaimo is possible... if you have about $40,000 a year to spare, or an extra five hours a day

    It’s come to this. The high cost of real estate in the Lower Mainland has resulted in Nanaimo being considered a viable commuting option for some people in the Vancouver workforce.
    It’s come to this. The high cost of real estate in the Lower Mainland has resulted in Nanaimo being considered a viable commuting option for some people in the Vancouver workforce.

    Is crossing the Salish Sea — a sea! — every working day really worth shaving a million dollars off your mortgage?

    Let’s crunch some numbers and see if it could work for you. Let’s work on the assumption that you are a regular 9-to-5er working five days a week, and you are putting in 236 days a year at the office.

    Taking a 20-minute harbour-to-harbour float plane ride is the most convenient way to commute to downtown Vancouver.

    Harbour Air, which flies from Nanaimo’s downtown harbour, and Seair Seaplanes, which takes off near the Departure Bay ferry terminal, both offer round-trip flights for around $198.

    Now booking daily flights will cost you more than $46,700 per year, but if you take advantage of bulk ticket discounts, you can get away with only spending around $40,000. That’s still beyond the means of most folks in Vancouver, which in 2013, according to Statistics Canada, had a median household income of $73,390.

    This float-plane commuting seems like a luxury reserved for the “one per cent,” but Brian Potentier, base manager for Seair Seaplanes, says he has half of a dozen regular customers who make the daily trip.

    It is possible to commute from Nanaimo on the cheap. As long as your time means absolutely nothing to you, a $17 BC Ferry walk-on ticket can get you as far as Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver where you can hop on a TransLink bus bound for downtown.

    Your ferry fares and monthly TransLink passes will add up to about $9,000 yearly, but you’ll spend nearly five hours a day travelling to and from work.

    The average price of a detached home in hit $1.83 million in January, compared to $358,000 in Nanaimo. Based on these averages, your monthly mortgage payment in Vancouver will be $8,000 compared to $1,600 in Nanaimo.

    Over 12 months, that’s difference of $76,800 — or nearly twice what your annual float plane budget would have been.

    sbrown@vancouversun.com

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