Busy False Creek ferry dock now reopened

UPDATE June 26, 2019;

Vancouver's busy Aquatic Centre ferry dock has now reopened after it was closed for several days while it underwent temporary repairs.

The city, which owns the dock, saysa replacementwill be built in the fall.

EARLIER;

A dock on the busiest ferry route in Vancouver is out of service, forcing a localcompany that operates it to scramble during thebusy summer season.

False Creek Ferries shuttles residents and tourists around Vancouver's False Creek using 17 boats, which stop at nine terminals along the waterway.

It's one of two ferry companies that shuttle foot passengers between various points along False Creek.

False Creek Ferries' busiest route is the one that goes between the dock at the Aquatic Centre on Beach Avenue and Granville Island.

On Friday afternoon, the dock, which is owned and operated by the City of Vancouver, was shut due to a structural problem with the ramp that leadsto and from a floating dock.

Jeremy Patterson, operations manager with the company says the dock is crucial to ferry operationsand needs to be replaced.

"The dock is past its best-before date is a nice way to say it," he said. "It's very run down and very old and it's needed replacing for a long time, but it hasn't really been top of mind for the city I'm guessing."

The city says the repair is minor and will take a few days to fix.

Hornby Street dock

People wanting to travel toGranville Island from the West End can instead go to the dock at the bottom on Hornby Street, which is used by Aquabus, the False Creek Ferries' competitor.

Aquabus is allowing False Creek Ferries to runits service in tandem from the dock until repairs are completed at the Aquatic Centre dock.

Commuters willonly have to pay a one-zone ticket from the False Creek Ferries terminal at David Lam Park, east of the Granville Street bridge on the north shore of False Creek, to the Maritime Museum in Kitsilano.

The city has earmarked $1 million to upgrade the dockto make it more accessible, safer and potentially includea canoe or kayak launch.

Patterson says False Creek Ferries built the dock in 1984 and then replaced it 10 years later. In the early 2000s, the city took it over as a public dock.

Since 2010, Patterson says there have been several temporary or emergency repairs to the dock, completedby the city.

He hadhoped it would have been replaced by March of this year.