In Portugal Cove, the lines for the ferry — and travellers' frustrations — are growing
Ferry users say they're dealing with too many delays and a lack of communication
Last week, on a sunny Thursday afternoon, as the MV Legionnaire motored away from the wharf in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, a long line of cars was already waiting for the next boat, one hour before its departure.
It's not an uncommon sight for travellers this summer, as ferry users have been dealing with long wait times, delays and mechanical issues.
Elaine Bickford of Conception Bay South was one traveller waiting in the long line on Thursday evening. Bickford, who uses the ferry to visit her family on Bell Island, says the wait times deter her from returning home more often.
"I hate waiting for the boat like this, I can't see why they don't have the boats going, one going, one coming… especially this time of year," she said.
Bickford requires an elevator but the one on board has been out of service recently, she says. She wishes there was better communication and more help getting back down to the lower vehicle deck.
"Just makes you fed up," she said. "I had to take the stairs but my knees are not too good."
Terry Hussey of Bell Island, who uses the ferry almost every day to go to work, says service this summer has been "hit and miss."
"It's almost a coin toss every day on how it's going to operate," said Hussey.
He says summer tourism has been affecting his commute.
"It just makes it a little bit more difficult for anybody that's working to stay on a steady flow back and forth," said Hussey.
Emergency trips at night can also delay the boat in the morning, because crews must take a six-hour break, according to Hussey.
"There's quite a few times we come down in the morning to try and go to work and we don't find out till we get down there that the boat's out of service for a couple of hours because it made an emergency run at night and nobody's bothered to update the online [schedule]," said Hussey.
PC transportation critic Jim McKenna says he has seen a lot of similar problems with Fogo Island ferry service. The biggest issues, he said, are communication with commuters and boat maintenance.
"We're not informed of what's going on and, you know, there's no communication hardly whatsoever," said McKenna. "It's very dysfunctional. It's not working."
If he were in charge, said McKenna, he would look into ferry maintenance and management.
"You need to put somebody there that knows how to run the system."
Newly appointed Transportation Minister Fred Hutton says ferry service has been top of mind since he was elected.
"We're constantly looking at ways to improve any service," said Hutton, also the MHA for Conception Bay East-Bell Island.
He said the department has increased the number of runs to help with increased tourism in the summer.
Both Bell Island and Fogo Island will have ferries taken out of service in the coming months for repairs. The government will be repairing the engines on the Legionnaire and the MV Veteran, which serves Farewell, Fogo Isalnd and Change Islands.
Repair dates aren't confirmed yet, said Hutton, the Veteran will start work this fall, followed by the Legionnaire in the winter.
While the Legionnaire is out of service, Hutton said, the government will contract a swing vessel in its place allowing them to maintain a service. For emergency medical evacuations, he said a helicopter will be on standby.
"People need to know that we're looking very closely at this at all times," said Hutton. "But ultimately what we want to make sure is that people can get back and forth, be it Fogo, Change Islands or Bell Island, that it's a safe and efficient service. But safety is No. 1, our No. 1 priority."
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