Cruise-ship traffic brings benefits to some Greater Victoria businesses and attractions, but it means headaches, literally and figuratively, for some residents of the community of James Bay, through which that traffic passes.
A proposal for a marine shuttle service from Ogden Point to Victoria鈥檚 downtown won鈥檛 cure all the migraines, but it could help ease the pain.
The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority has issued a request for proposals for a water-based service to carry cruise-ship passengers from the berths at Ogden Point to Victoria鈥檚 Inner Harbour. This comes as resentment of the cruise-ship industry grows in James Bay.
The resentment is not unfounded. Tourism is often touted as a clean, renewable industry, and while it is certainly cleaner than iron smelters and open-pit coal mines, any endeavour that involves moving large numbers of people around incurs environmental costs.
For residents of James Bay, that means enduring the fumes and noise from engines of cruise ships berthed at the Ogden Point terminal, as well as from the buses that pass through James Bay on their way to and from other points on the Island.
In a way, it鈥檚 a microcosm of the pipeline debate 鈥� the entities at either end get all the benefits while those between get all the problems.
The cruise season lasts from May to October, and the traffic is limited mainly to Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays when most cruise ships arrive and depart, but that鈥檚 still a lot to dump on an older, quiet neighbourhood with narrow streets.
Although industrial activity connected to Ogden Point has waxed and waned through the years, it has been an important industrial area since the first piers were built there in anticipation of the growth in shipping brought by the opening of the Panama Canal.
A diversified economy is a healthy economy, and Victoria鈥檚 working harbour is part of that diverse economy, with cruise buses and other tourist-related traffic replacing the lumber and grain trucks that rumbled through the neighbourhood in past years.
The harbour is still an important industrial resource, but the concerns from James Bay should not be ignored.
Moving some of the cruise-ship passengers by marine shuttle makes a lot of sense. It would ease the load on James Bay streets and would be an added attraction for visitors 鈥� approaching downtown Victoria by water is a sublime experience. And it鈥檚 a far better idea than the one floated last month by a private company that would see passengers ferried by an overhead gondola system from the terminal to the downtown area. Kudos to those who think outside the box, but that one was too far outside the parameters of acceptability. It would have been trading one problem for another.
Still, the beneficial effects of the marine shuttle will be limited. Many passengers alighting in Victoria take part in day excursions, which involve being picked up and dropped off by bus at the Ogden Point terminal, so buses will continue to plague James Bay with their noise, fumes and stress on road surfaces.
A water-based service that would significantly reduce street traffic would likely require an investment that could not be justified by the limited times and dates the service would be needed. A vessel that carried only a few passengers wouldn鈥檛 have much impact on the flow of traffic through James Bay, and a larger vessel could not afford to sit idle for six months of the year.
The GVHA admits it sees the service as a pilot project and will gauge the effectiveness of the service during the 2014 season. It might be a small step, but at least it鈥檚 a step forward.
