Texada Island Community Page

We've gathered a list of what we’ve heard as priorities from your Ferry Advisory Committee and community over the past two years. Now we need your help to:

• Review the list of feedback we’ve received from your community
• Prioritize the feedback we can action

Your feedback will be used by the Community Prioritization Panel (CPP) - a panel comprised of Ferry Advisory Committee Chairs from across the coast - to create a prioritized list of recommendations for the whole BC Ferries system.

The survey will be open until July 18th.

Check back on this page for updates on the process and what we heard from your community.

On Wednesday, July 3, we hosted the qathet Sunshine Coast Community Workshop in Powell River to gather feedback on the priorities for our ferry services. Participants included members from the Ferry Advisory Committee and the broader community. The discussion was lively and informative, and several key priorities emerged as areas of focus.

Read the verbatim comments from the evening here.

The highest-ranking priorities were:

Methods to ease connecting travel: Exploring ways to make it easier for those travelling between Powell River and the Lower Mainland are desired, including things like connecting reservations, dedicated staging lanes at terminals for connecting travellers, and more efficient communication when delays are occurring on one route or another.

Support for medical travellers: Participants indicated a desire to make travelling for medical purposes easier, including easier access to free TAP reservations, especially in the summer months, and making connecting travel easier for those going to/from the Mainland for appointments.

Road safety at Blubber Bay and Saltery Bay terminals: Participants noted the ongoing need to provide safe access to the terminals for school buses, foot passenger drop-off and pick-up, and those trying to access terminal amenities. This was noted as a particular concern during peak summer months when congestion on local roadways prohibits easy terminal access.

Thank you!

We would like to thank everyone who came out to our in person workshop, and the member of the Ferry Advisory Committee who joined us. If you were not able to make it, there is still an opportunity to provide your feedback through the online engagement open now until July 18: Take the survey.

On request of the Ferry Advisory Committee, BC Ferries Engagement team has recently changed the name used to represent communities within the Northern Sunshine Coast to ‘qathet Sunshine Coast’. This change is intended to better reflect the area served by BC Ferries north of Earls Cove ferry terminal.

The name ‘qathet’ is a word from Tla’amin Nation meaning “working together”. The word was gifted to the local government authority from the Tla’amin First Nation in 2017. qathet is pronounced “KAW-thet,” and is intentionally lowercase to reflect Tla’amin spelling.

Join us for an Interactive Community Workshop!
Wednesday, July 3, 2024
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Powell River

Please note that space is limited. RSVP to reserve your spot and receive full event details!

Agenda

• Introduction & presentation: 20 minutes
• Reviewing the feedback we’ve heard from you (interactive stations): 35 minutes
• Prioritizing the feedback we’ve heard from you (interactive stations): 30 minutes
• Wrap-up & close: 5 minutes

Session Format

This community workshop will begin with a short presentation, followed by two interactive sessions that ask participants to help us:

1. Ensure the feedback we have captured from the Ferry Advisory Committee and community is complete and accurate
2. Prioritize the feedback we’ve captured based on what is most important to the community

Participants will also walk away with a better understanding of:

• How BC Ferries makes decisions
• The aspects of ferry service that are rising to the top as most important for their community
• The next steps for considering and taking action on the feedback provided
• How to stay involved and connected in the next steps

To get the most from the session, participants are encouraged to stay for the entire workshop, but are most welcome to drop in and stay as long as they wish. We understand life is busy and time is precious.

There will an online engagement component hosted on this page that mirrors the workshop input, for those who are not able to attend.

To stay connected, please click the ‘Stay Informed’ icon at the right hand side of the page, or continue to check this page.

We look forward to meeting you.