Water taxi service scuttled
Loss of public dock behind closure
Bowen Islanders are sending out a distress signal after their watertaxi commuter service to Vancouver lost access to a public dock on Friday and made its final sailing hours later.
The Bowen Land and Sea Taxi, which made three round trips between Snug Cove on Bowen Island and Coal Harbour every weekday, lost access to a public dock near the Vancouver Convention Centre after the Vancouver park board determined it requires repairs.
Mike Shannon, 43, owner and operator of Bowen Land and Sea Taxi, said he received a call from the park board Friday afternoon warning him that engineers had deemed the dock unsafe — the water taxi’s final sailing of the day at 6 p.m. would be its last.
“It was a surprise,” Shannon said. “Less than four hours’ notice.”
Shannon said he was told the dock will be removed next week and repaired or replaced, but possibly not until next fall. He said the park board had recently seemed to be on his side, working to have the dock’s official use changed to allow for commercial vessels and trying to help him secure its longterm use.
In an emailed reply to questions, the park board said the dock was designed to accommodate pleasure craft and it was only in 2017 that the board discovered two commercial operators were using the public dock.
“One of them ceased operations and the other, Bowen Land and Sea Taxi, continued to provide a commuter service from the dock and was given a temporary operating agreement until Jan 31, 2018,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, this commercial activity has caused unexpected wear and tear and reduced the service life of the dock.”
Shannon launched the water taxi in November 2009 and was transporting 60 to 80 passengers each day, he said.
Bas Brusche, 55, a consultant who moved to Bowen Island from Kitsilano a year ago with his wife, Michelle, said he was disappointed by the dock’s closure.
Brusche’s wife uses the water taxi daily to get to work, while he uses it a few times each week. He said a one-way trip is about 30 minutes.
Losing the water taxi means he will now have to use B.C. Ferries to nearby Horseshoe Bay and transfer to a bus downtown, which costs just over half as much as the water taxi but takes roughly 75 minutes each way.
“It means that it gets far more complicated for commuters,” Brusche said.
Unfortunately, this commercial activity has caused unexpected wear and tear and reduced the service life of the dock.