Enhancements needed at Tsawassen Quay and BC Ferries

This past weekend I headed to Victoria (in Vancouver Island) to give a couple of talks at WordCamp Victoria 2010. I had previously spoken at WordCamp, and the main organizers (Paul Holmes and his wife, Katharine Holmes) are good friends of mine, so I rarely say no to anything they ask me. And since they asked very nicely, I obviously agreed to come and speak. Making the trek to Victoria is rarely a trip that I enjoy, because I don’t own a car, and even if I rented one, taking a car on the ferry is really expensive (still, you have to add on the car rental fees, of course). So, I have to take the bus, the Canada Line, the bus again and then the boat from Tsawassen to Swartz Bay. Then the bus to downtown Victoria. By the end of the trip, I am ready to not see anyone.

I missed the opportunity to take the 3pm ferry from Vancouver as I had a very busy morning doing work at home, so I ended up having to wait for a couple of hours at the Tsawassen ferry terminal. There are a number of elements that make this experience rather uncomfortable. First, there are no actual coffee shops IN the terminal. And of course, no wireless. So, I made the trek to the Tsawassen Quay.

The irony of it all? It’s quasi-impossible to feel safe trekking from the actual ferry terminal to the Tsawassen Quay. You will see, from my photos, that the walking distances are considerable, and that there are no bridges, or safe walking passages. This is a Quay that is designed for people who come on the ferry by car. So, attention all of you who are interested in the sustainable transportation field – make it EASY and SAFE to walk from the ferry terminal to the quay. Moreover, at the actual Quay, the wireless provider (Happy WiFi) actually does not work. There are no coffee shops that provide wireless of their own.

I only could find ONE power outlet in the whole food court, which also made my experience rather uncomfortable. When I finally sat down to play around with my laptop, I could not log on to the wireless network. So I ended up doing all my writing in BlogDesk. The great thing is, I had a chance to write this rant before I took the ferry (which, by the way, was delayed by 25 minutes). Oh, the irony of it all.

Overall, I love Victoria, but travelling to Vancouver Island from Vancouver by bus is extremely annoying. Even for someone who is trying to take this trip as a bit of a holiday.