Arrow Lake Ferry service stepped up for summer

Patrons of the Upper Arrow Lake Ferry between Shelter and Galena bays will see a bit of relief this summer.

The provincial Ministry of Forests and Range, in conjunction with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced there will be increased service of the ferry between Revelstoke and Nakusp. The extended service began on July 9.

The DEV Galena will make two extra round trips per day, running from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m, while the MV Shelter Bay will begin service an hour earlier, running from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In addition, the MV Shelter Bay, which usually stops service Labour Day weekend, will run until Oct. 13 this year.

“That would be positive,” said Peter Humphreys in reference to the longer operation of the second ferry. “That’s what we’ve been trying for a while.”

Humphreys owns Big Eddy Fuel Services, which uses the ferry five days a week.

“It seems to me that tourism has been going a little longer… and that’s when we seem to be running into problems,” he said, noting that the second ferry service always seemed to end too early.

“The guys get paid by the hour, so if we miss a sailing there’s another hour of lost productivity,” explained Humphreys.

A press release sent by the ministries involved with the new schedule cited increased commercial traffic as one of the reasons for increased wait times.

Although local interest centred on the extension of the MV Shelter Bay services, Joe Williams of the Ferry Advisory Committee in Nakusp explained that the other addition, the longer service hours, is not new, but a reversion to hours that had been in effect a few years ago.

“When the government of the day decided to cut back the ferry service about five years ago it made a huge difference to my company,” said Williams who is part of a Nakusp logging company.

“I saw all the tourists and the busses on the highway getting disgruntled at the ferry landing,” said the Nakusp resident in a phone interview last Friday.

“There’s still going to be line-ups..., but it’s going to be a big help.”

Williams would like to eventually see 24-hour service of the ferry, stating that he believes people would use and benefit from the service.