Their is a beast on the coast, it haunts all residents, it is a necessary evil but yet to most it is our livelihood. It is big and white and travels Howe Sound and it doesn’t like to be messed with.

If you haven’t already guessed I am talking about the Queen of Surrey and our tragic relationship with BC Ferries.

The beauty of the trip is often over shadowed by the second class citizen I feel from the Ferry Corp.

First the Facts

Queen of Surrey using a C-Class ferry which can carry some 362 cars and over 1,500 passengers. The Surrey is Cowichan Class and was put into service in 1981 It and the Queen of Oak Bay were the last two of the C-Class build in North Vancouver. Other then some help over the summer from the Queen of Coquitlam it is the only boat the runs on route 3 which travels between Langdale and Horseshoe Bay. The ship provides bi-hourly service, with a route of 9.7 nautical miles taking approximately 40 minutes to making the crossing.

Some History

The Sunshine Coast has been serviced by ferries since it’s inception as a community. With a number of vessels making the route. One vessel of particular note was the Sunshine Coast Queen nicknamed Suzy Q. After the Suzy Q was retired in 1976 the coast was serviced by two double ended Ferries that would travel back and fourth. A decision was made in the early 80′s to switch to one larger C Class ferry that was larger faster and could handle all of the traffic. But the trade off was it would only run every two hours.

And from what I can recall (I was quite young at the time) Their was a lot of grumbling and discontent that the frequency of ferry service was decreasing. But BC Ferries vowed that this would be cheaper to operate with the same amount of traffic.

Other improvements were included a new ramp for loading the 3rd car deck at the Langdale terminal and a new gantry at Horseshoe Bay to allow walk on passengers to board directly on to the passenger area of the vessel. Both of these decreased loading time of the vessel.

The Langdale Terminal also got a new parking lot, drop off area, coffee shop and bus stop along with a new layout at the Langdale Terminal to adjust for increasing capacity.

Langdale Ferry Terminal

The Black sheep of the Mainland Routes

Their was always trade offs in this smaller route. For example we don’t have traffic that the island routes do. But we also don’t have the weather storm delays or volume delays of the island routes either. The Howe Sound route is claimer then crossing the Strait of Georgia and when other sailing were canceled ours was still running. So when I was a kid I would always see these huge line ups for the Nanaimo route and be glad it wasn’t our route.

But and it is a big but… like a little brother or sister we always got the discards from the larger route. When the ferry was refit we were the last to get it, They would take our boat give it a refit and then it would sail the Nanaimo route. We always grumbled about this but other then a nicer boat for better for worse it still relatively decent service.

Coast not the secret it use to be

Queen of Surrey

Once I was a teenager the coast had it’s own transit bus and their was something called the commuter who would work in Vancouver and travel by ferry to the Coast. A lot of people said it was more enjoyable then being stuck in a traffic jam. But with that came added traffic to the coast and the ferry. These commuters would leave for the 6:20am ferry arriving for work at 8:30am in Vancouver and then return on the 5:30pm ferry getting you back into Sechelt around 7:00pm. And a lot of people start to do this. Living in Gibsons was a lot easier then further up the coast. But I knew people in Halfmoon Bay who would do this 4 to 5 days a week. Again this only worked when the ferry ran on time and for more or less it did. But commuting via ferry was never for me. I don’t think it ever will be.

The Summer hit the coast and all hands are on deck for the busy season, And much like the rest of the coast you can feel the increased traffic and to give BC Ferries some credit service has certainly increased during the summer months adding another C class vessel.

But it is here that lies the problem in my opinion

With every two hour service and a crossing time of forty minutes. You only have 10 minutes on either side to load/unload and leave for the other side. But this only works when the boat is 2/3rds full. The time it takes to stuff the boat will always leave the boat running late. (You can usually see this on the Saturday 8:20 ferry) But the boat can usually catch up on the next run. But with the summer traffic being what it is. They have has additional sailing to keep the traffic smooth.

Problem number one: We have enough traffic to constantly make only one ferry late and but not enough to need a second ferry of duplicate size and capacity. (eg. Queen of Coquitlam or variation of that)

Problem number two: We only have one big boat, their is no robustness or scalability to any issue we might have. So for example a dock problem = delays, 50 extra cars? = delays, Anything out of the ordinary traffic = Delays.  And unlike years gone past it is getting increasing hard to keep this demanding schedule.

Problem number three: When the Queen of Surrey was in dry dock for most of the summer as it had broken down a number of time in the early summer the Queen of Coquitlam took over and it couldn’t keep pace with the schedule and yet is the same class and size of boat with a slightly different layout and been put into service 5 years previous. The only thing I can see from this is that if the Queen of Surrey can barely keep up with the demanding schedule it is beyond the scope of a boat five years older.

Problem number four: Except for the MV Skeena Queen and MV Island Sky who have dedicated routes.  Every other mid-sized ferry was build before the 1980′s with high maintenance cost and antiquated technology on the boats.

I don’t doubt BC Ferries has known this for years and I don’t doubt the complexity of the problem with a route that is constantly changing in traffic capacity. But this current setup just isn’t working and it is troubling. It is hitting the core customers now and it has a huge trickle down effect. Like the coastal transit system which tries so hard to meeting the ferries and even alter it’s schedule to co-ordinate with the ferries.

I am not going to comment on some of the surely staff you find (notice I said some), the expensive food and the really horrible coffee. Because at the end of the day I just really want the ferry to run on a manageable schedule that is robust enough to deal with heaver traffic demands when needed.

I wouldn’t have spent the entire morning writing this post if I felt this was a useless pursuit and nothing could be done. But that is biggest concern I have, is that this little route isn’t little anymore and makes quite the profit for the ferries and yet I still feel like a second class citizen who’s opinions don’t matter in the eyes of the Ferry corp.

Follow up

When I tried to contact BC Ferries, both the 1-800 number and the head office. I was put on hold, told their phones couldn’t transfer. The person you need to talk to is on lunch and will call you back. So far nothing…

Tags: accountability, BC Ferries, Sunshine Coast

I found the West Coast Express Civilized

Back in my newspaper journalism days all my transportation was done via car, even in Yellowknife where I lived without a personal vehicle for almost three years. If I wanted to get anywhere it was via car.

Since leaving the profession. Selling the car and purchasing the best commuting bike in the entire world. I have always tried to find different and alternative means of transportation that provide less stress and more enjoyment to my day.

This summer I took my nephew to Stanley Park and in the process we rode the SkyTrain, a trolley bus, a diesel bus and for the first time The West Coast Express (WCE).

For my four year old nephew transit is more a special treat then anything else.  But for me it wasn’t anything more then the status quo of Vancouver living.

After a fun filled day we jumped on board the WCE. Experiencing avenue of transit except the SeaBus that day. I can certainly say the WCE was by far the most civilized relaxing and enjoyable mode of transportation I have ridden. It was quiet comfortable and efficient.

Typical seats found on the West Coast Express

Why aren’t we doing more of this?

I have taken the Greyhound to Chilliwack, BC on a number occasions and found, comparatively speaking, the Greyhound was about as enjoyable as fingernails on a chalkboard. It’s noisy, confined by traffic and the depots are off the beaten path of the highway.

I am sure the daily train travel would have it’s drawbacks, but with the wide seats, air conditioning, power plugs and tables for the laptop I have been left with one lasting feeling from the experience.

It just felt civilized.

Tags: Train, Transit

A high school friend named Jana Curll looked me up to do some photo reproduction of her art work.

A very basic studio set up in my living room.

Loosing contact as one does I never knew she was such an artist back in high school. Her work is amazing.

I on the other hand had to pull out the old Camera Gear and jury-rig up a studio in the living room to capture her work. It was the first time I had really shot something in over a year. It was fun to get back into the photo groove if only for a morning.

She is having a show at the Gumboot Garden Cafe for the month of July. I’d certainly check it out.

I then met up with another artist type friend. Dan Sullivan (better known as exploding Haggis) who in comparison I have only known for two years and we off to enjoy a bike ride around Gibsons.

I didn’t really start feeling old until I realized that it was Elphiphstone Secondary Grad Night and both myself and Jana graduated in the same gym some 15 years ago.

This is when I really started to feel old. Lucky Dan showed up. I asked if we could jet, before I break a hip and my false teeth fall out.

On the way home I felt the entire day from start to finish was comprised of my past and how easily you are reminded of it.

Tags: art, bike, High School Graduation, Photography, Sunshine Coast

Sammy Piccolo 4 time, top three, World Barista Championship finalist and 4 time Canadian National Barista Champion has a brand new website that was made using the wordpress content management system. The site is still very much in beta as we have added 475 products to the site, with more to come. But it is the very first e-commerce website I have made and have been in development since the beginning of the year.

The first website of Sammy Piccolo.com

Tags: coffee, content management, e-commerce, Web Design, wordpress

Dear Facebook

The Social Networking Site Facebook

I love you, ever since I joined your service a couple years ago. I have been able to reconnect with friends from Sydney, AZ to Yellowknife, NWT.

But Facebook we really need to talk… Your not Twitter, Nor do I want to be Twitter. See Facebook I joined your service to share my life with a close 200 friends, and I really try keeping up with all of them. Honestly, I have a personal twitter account, but I am not sure what to do with it because I already use this site, and that site, to voice my public views.

And, yes, before you privacy experts get your shirt in a knot. I know the privacy on Facebook is a basic one. And anyone with some savvy hacking skills could potentially see, copy, change any of my info on your site, and I am OK with that. I know the risk of what I post and have read more then one story about employees getting fired for posting stuff on Facebook. I also prefer to keep my business life and social life separate, so if I haven’t accepted your friend request. Isn’t not you it’s me. . .

Lets just call my Facebook friends an extended family for want of a better word. I’d be OK with telling them stuff I wouldn’t be comfortable tell a complete stranger, which quite frankly resembles the entire Internet.

If I did want to publicly rant and rave then I have half a dozen different services at my disposal, or I’d just make all of my post public. but I didn’t join Facebook to do that. Nor is Facebook something I want to use that for. I like Facebook for being Facebook it was the reason I joined and the reason I continue to log in each day.

Hope you had a great Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

regards

Robert

Tags: Facebook, new web, privacy, social media, twitter

Goodbye Tony We will miss you!

When I was in high school I wanted to go into the media and during a class at the old Coast Cable 11 Studio’s in Gibsons BC. We sat in the classroom and watched BCTV.

Tony Parsons and Mike McCardell were the text-book of what good journalism was. As I grew older my views of the media had changed, I was hardened by years in the news, and this hardening had led me to leave the media.  but watch Tony and Mike, they, they were still the tried and true source they were when I grew up.

While Mike is still on the air, at least for now. Both were from the old school of journalism. The type that isn’t taught anymore. The type that really can’t be taught in the confines of a school.

I will miss Tony on the Nightly news. He is Irreplaceable at least to BCTV. You can leave your goodbye comments on their website.

I have stopped watch Global as it is now called, it’s a different station on the same channel. Chris Gailus although a Canadian spent many years at a FOX affiliate in New York, USA and is more of the sensational type and doesn’t have that same calm cool voice Tony has. But I watched tonight, just to say goodbye.

I have moved on to CTV and another veteran of the old school journalism, Bill Good, who use to work at BCTV. In hopes I can find a newscast that if it has to deliver bad news it will do it in a calm cool and collected way.

Tags: BCTV, CTV, Goodbye, Media, News Hour, Television News, Tony Parsons

Chris Young Photography

British-born and Toronto-based photographer Chris Young contacted me about improving his website. He wanted to have a site that was more search-engine friendly, had bigger images to display and something that fit his sense of style and colour scheme.

I showed Chris what I had done with Andy Clark’s site as well as my own and we started on the design process.

Chris wanted the flow of a flash site but none of the drawbacks. So through a process of trial and, admittedly, some error. We found a clean looking site with all the functionality he needed.

Being a freelancer, Chris also wanted a site that would increase visit’s to his site from first-time visitors and hopefully increase sales of some of the spectacular images he has taken.

Making a Splash

Accordion Widget

For some splash pages there are antiquated pieces of the Internet’s past. But for a photographer they do play a key piece of branding as you want to make an impression with your images as soon as possible. I took what I learned from the devious behaviour site and made the entry page one large image that adjusted to the size of the browser. I also did this with CSS and not javascript so it would be compliant across multiple browsers.

I suggested a wide horizontal image and suggested to Chris he use the Stonehenge photo. It is certainly a powerful photo that captures your attention immediately.

My developer Kevin Ganapathy did some programing so that Chris could change his background image from the user interface and not from the confusing FTP.

Playing the Accordion

Chris also wanted some way to hide the thumbnails. So, I took the accordion that I had been using on my own site and Kevin programmed the thumbnails to show up only in the different categories.

We then installed a WordPress blog and styled it toward more of a photo-blog format. Both Chris and I are pretty happy with the results and had a lot of good feedback on the clean aesthetic look.

Tags: content management, Photography, pixel post, search engine optimization, Web Design, wordpress

The summer of bikes and coffee has been going strong. Promoting The Tree has been one of funnest projects I have ever had the chance to work on. Having a contract where you get to bike in the glorious sunshine to events all over the city, talk with people, take pictures and then blog about it has been a blast. Bikes on the Drive has been one of the nicest and easiest clients I have ever worked for.

Biking with Coffee in Vancouver Photo: David Niddrie

I found ilan to be a guy you like a quality cup of coffee and he really enjoys the coffee blog too. It is one of the reasons he hired me to write The Tree Blog. Over one day and a few Americanos we hatched this idea.

A biking coffee tour to some of the best coffee shops in East Vancouver. After blogging about The Tree bicycle for most of the summer and taking it to a few coffee shops I found the bike and coffee blog share the same goals: More sustainable products through education of consumers about the products they were purchasing, It is also great for cross marketing and promotion both were started and localized to East Vancouver and The Drive.

Without further ado here are the Details:

The East Van Biking Coffee Tour

Sponsored by: Bikes on the Drive & Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

You can just show up but we would like to get a feeling of people who want to attend the event,
You can sign up on the coffee website.

It is the first event I have ever put on and it should be a lot of fun, I hope you can make it out!

Tags: bike, coffee, Commercial Drive, cross marketing, cross promotion, East Vancouver, Tour

Frozen Fog one of many image from Native Landscapes

In my former life as a news photographer and I did a fair amount of travel around Western Canada covering the events of the day. So when Joe and Audrey asked me to show my work at the Bump and Grind I was more than happy (it is the closest cafe to my house).

This show was commissioned five years ago for the Bienal Fotosemana, which had photography exhibitions across Bogota, Colombia. I was chosen too as the international guest and showed at Universidad Nacional de Colombia Meseo De Arte, The National University Art Museum.

With the help of Vince over at 49th and Bump and Grind we will be serving the Colombia Timana during the event.

So here is the skinny:

Show: Native Landscapes
Where: Bump and Grind 916 Commercial Drive
When: Saturday, June 13 5:00 – 7:00 pm

Tags: Arctic, art, coffee, Colombia, opening, photo, Photography, Web Design

For many college and university students the summer means going into the bush, living out of tents and planting trees. From what I have heard it can be hard, back breaking work where you only get paid for the trees you plant.

Well my summer has been a lot different than the usual tree planter. Instead of working in a camp in the middle of a clear cut, I am working for Bikes on the Drive (BOTD) on Commercial Drive, which is pretty much the center of East Vancouver.

I walked into the shop some months ago and talked with ilan Handelsman, manager of BOTD about telling their story and getting some more traffic to their website. What happened was ilan told me the story of The Tree. A bike conceived by the staff on BOTD out of frustration with the current trends in the commuter bike industry.

Bikes on the Drive Tree

What happened next was truly something amazing. I had one opportunity to convince BOTD that I was the one who should tell the story of The Tree. But to do this I had to explain social networking. The problem is that much like everyone else I didn’t really fully understand social networking in terms of marketing and a return on a shop’s investment. But what I did have was time on my hands.

I sat down and two days later with the help of OmniGraffle I had built a three-page flowchart that somewhat explained social networking to the bike shop and how it could be measured. A full two months after my first conversation I then presented this two month proposal to Tina the shop administrator and owner.

I am happy to say that three weeks ago a three month contract was approved by Bikes on the Drive and I have barely had enough time to do laundry since then. (I said barely).

So we have taken The Tree to the Bike to Work Week BBQ’s, Commuter Stations, Mexico thanks to Bugsy, Critical Mass and the bike is already a Museum Piece and it’s barely two months old.

So far it has been the biggest internet marketing project I have ever taken on. Here is a short list of what we’re working on:

• Microsite dedicated to the bike.
• Bikes on business card
• Magazine display ads
• Domain Purchase and association
• Guerrilla marketing
• Art Directed photo shoot on false creek.
• Photos of every part of Tree Life
• Event promotion and coverage
• Video
• Own Flickr group
• Interview of all staff

And we’re not even into month two of the contract. . .

So unlike the intrepid tree planters of the Canadian wilderness I have been a firmly planted urbanist this summer, promoting one of the coolest projects I have worked on since becoming a web designer.

Jenelle models the Tree on False Creek

The shop managers and owners have been amazing to work with. I have presented ideas and concepts and 9 times out of 10 I hear, “Yes, sure, lets try that!” To be given almost cart blanche to market a product without a laundry list of restrictions has been a dream of a job to work on.

But I could not do this without friends like: Jenelle Schneider who was an awesome model for the photo shoot. Jacob Hopkins who did the photography of the tree on False Creek. My programer Kevin Ganapathy who is a great web developer but also speaks fluent Robert, which means he know what I am talking about most of the time. . .

Will keep you posted on how things are progressing this summer it certainly has been a wild ride this spring.

Tags: bike, blogging, Commercial Drive, content management, marketing, Photography, social media, twitter, Web Design