Here in Vancouver, we love our ferries. We live beside a LOT of water, so it makes sense that ferries of all sizes and shapes have become important to our history and identity.
We’re also known for our large number of bridges that keep all of the little bits of land that make up Greater Vancouver, connected. Where you have bridges, you will often find ferries for those who don’t want to get stuck in traffic on those same bridges. The further in-land you go, the fewer the ferries you’ll find because so many of those communities are more dependant on their cars to cover the distances, and therefore heavy vehicular traffic is just a way of life for them.
However, here in the heart of the city of Vancouver, ferries make much more sense in the linking of communities and neighbourhoods. So much so that they have become a vital part of our public transit system and many of our citizens rely on them for their daily commute. The Seabus fleet of passenger boats, our transit ferries, can seat up to 395 people each and are able to make the crossing from the terminal at the foot of North Vancouver to downtown Vancouver in 12 minutes. They run four times an hour in each direction across Vancouver Harbour and cost the same as a regular 2-zone bus ticket. Commuters mingle with visitors crossing between the two communities.
Along the south side of the ‘island’ of downtown Vancouver, we all love to watch the endearing little 12-passenger ferries crisscrossing False Creek, busy with locals and tourists who want to travel from one neighbourhood to another. They are often referred to as floating bathtubs (referring to their shape not their waterproof-ness) and add uncommon charm to commuting in the midst of a busy city. While these little ferries aren’t going to get you to your destination in any sort of record time, the relaxation and perspective they offer is worth the price of the trip. Vancouver is a beautiful town, and these little ferries allow their passengers a special view of the city that is only available from the water.
Also on our list of ferries are the beloved, fear, and despised BC Ferries, which are large ships that carry cars, buses, and trucks from mainland BC to several islands along the coast, including Vancouver Island where our province’s capital city is so weirdly placed. This extensive fleet of ships is famous for high fees, long waiting lines, terrible food, and for breaking down during most long weekends. However, their always-interesting gift shops and the extraordinary view from their ship decks go a long way towards making up for the litany of complaints against them. The ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay on the mainland to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island takes a couple of hours but by the time you arrive at the other side, a week’s worth of relaxation has already settled over you that will probably last until you’re ready to return to the mainland and find yourself sitting in a lineup of parked cars, watching as a ferry sails away from port leaving you to wait 2 – 4 hours (unless it’s a long weekend!), praying to snag a spot on the next one.
Before 1909, there were very few full-time occupants living in West Vancouver, on the north shore of the Burrard Inlet (aka First Narrows), the body of water that stands between that side and the ‘city’ of Vancouver. Those who did need to get into town, had to raise a flag to wave down a tug or small fishing boat and then negotiate their own ride to the other side. That started to change once the land of West Vancouver started looking tasty to hungry developers.
John Lawson bought a huge chunk of the newly (and racially) renamed British Properties to settle and sell but found that prospective buyers were reluctant to move there without any sort of regular ferry service. So, he and 3 other guys, John Sinclair, William Thompson, and Robert MacPherson (probably known as Jack, Billy, and Bob, if I know anything about sailors) started the First Narrows Ferry Company. The route was from the foot of 17th Street in West Vancouver (later moved to the foot of 14th Street) over to the dock at Columbia Street in Gastown. They say that the trip took about 25 minutes, cost ten cents (later raising to 15 cents), and was scheduled to leave every hour, 18 hours a day, seven days a week.
By 1911, the West Vancouver Ferry Company’s single 35-passenger ferry, a converted fishing boat by the name of Eileen but lyrically rechristened West Vancouver No. 1, was joined by the 40-passenger slow-but-solid Sea Foam, staunch enough to be able to pull a tug that West Vancouver residents could use to haul their furniture and belongings over to their new homes.
The service was burgeoning, but Lawson and the boys were done with it because it wasn’t a money maker for them, so they sold the whole company to the new Municipality of West Vancouver in 1912 for $6,000! Lawson alone had invested twice that amount into the venture. I’m sure they made their money back on their real estate deals but they sure took a hit with the ferry company. Since a ferry system had become essential to West Vancouver, the municipality added in bigger purpose-built boats as time went on and as the population demands grew. By the 1930s, when the ferry system across Burrard Inlet was in its heyday, they were moving 100,000 people per month. But the ’30s also turned a page for the ferries.
Walter Guinness (British politician and one of the heirs of the family brewing company) had gotten involved with the whole British Properties real estate boom and after 2 years of backroom bargaining, the city of Vancouver agreed that a bridge could be built over First Narrows to connect the newly developing area to Vancouver.
The 1,823m Lions Gate Bridge took a year and a half to build and was opened in 1938. It cost Guinness $5,873,837.00 to build and he exerted a 25-cent toll for all cars and horse-drawn vehicles while pedestrians and cyclists paid 5 cents for the pleasure.
The new bridge was exciting and modern and gave new life to both sides of Burrard Inlet, but it sucked the life out of the ferries that had championed the moving of folks from one side to the other. The last ferry trip connecting the two communities took its final voyage on February 8, 1947. The ferry service was replaced with public bus service and continues so today.
Is today’s service better? Maybe, but I’ve never ridden on a bus whose name used to be Eileen.
