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This information will assist you in planning your Vancouver Island
vacation. Ferry transport, rail, road and air services available on
Vancouver Island.
Marine transport is very important to Vancouver Island for access to
the mainland of British Columbia and Washington. There are no bridges
connecting the island to the mainland, although the idea of building one
has been brought up many times. The only vehicle access to Vancouver
Island is via ferries operated by BC Ferries, Washington State Ferries
and Black Ball Transport Inc.
BC Ferries :
Tsawwassen (38 km south of Vancouver) - Swartz Bay (20 mi (32 km) north
of Victoria)
Crossing time: 1 hour 35 minutes; 8 sailings per day in the fall,
winter, and spring and more in summer)
Tsawwassen - Duke Point (8 mi (13 km) south of Nanaimo)
Crossing time: 2 hours; 8 round trips daily.
Horseshoe Bay (12 mi (19 km) northwest of Vancouver) - Departure Bay (2
mi (3 km) north of Nanaimo)
Crossing time: 1 hour 35 minutes; Sailings every 2 hours with extra
sailings during the summer and holidays.
Powell River - Comox
Crossing time: 1 hour 20 minutes; 4 round trips daily.
Washington State Ferries :
Anacortes, Washington - Sidney
Crossing time: 3 hours (not counting stops in the San Juan Islands)
Black Ball Transport :
Port Angeles, Washington - Victoria
Crossing time: 1 hour 30 minutes; 1 or 2 round trips daily
Passenger-only service
In addition, there are three passenger-only ferry services from the
mainland to Vancouver Island:
Victoria Clipper (Seattle, Washington - Victoria)
Crossing time: 2 hour 45 minutes; 1 to 3 round trips daily
Victoria Express (Port Angeles, Washington - Victoria)
Crossing time: 1 hour (operates May through September)
Victoria San Juan Cruises (Bellingham, Washington - Victoria)
Crossing time: 3 hours (operates one trip per day May through October)
Rail:
There are two remaining major railways on Vancouver Island. The Southern
Railway of Vancouver Island, which assumed control of the Esquimalt and
Nanaimo Railway from RailAmerica in July 2006 offers general freight
service on the Victoria–Courtenay main line (called the Victoria
Subdivision by the railroad). The Port Alberni branch line (called the
Port Alberni Subdivision by the railroad) has been out of service since
late 2001.
SVI also runs passenger service under contract with VIA Rail. Western
Forest Products operates Canada's last logging railway out of Woss to
Beaver Cove on the northern end of the island. The former Canadian
National Railway out of Victoria to the Cowichan Valley was abandoned in
the late 1980s/early 1990s, and the former grade between Victoria and
Sooke, and Shawnigan lake and Lake Cowichan is now a multi-use trail.
The BC Forest Museum has a narrow gauge railway winding around the park,
and the Alberni Pacific Railway operates during the summer from the
restored E&N Railway station in Port Alberni to the McLean's Mill on
former E&N Railway trackage.
Road:
There is one major north-south highway system on the island, which runs
along the eastern side. It begins as Highway 1 in Victoria, merging with
Highway 19 in Nanaimo, which terminates at Port Hardy. East-west routes
are:
Highway 4 between Parksville and Tofino;
Highway 14 between Greater Victoria and Port Renfrew;
Highway 18 between Duncan and Youbou; and
Highway 28 between Campbell River and Gold River.
In addition, Highway 17 connects Victoria with the Saanich Peninsula,
terminating the Vancouver Island portion of its route at the Swartz Bay
Ferry Terminal.
Vancouver Island is well served by secondary routes, and a numerous
active and decommissioned logging and forest service roads provide
access into the back country.
Many communities are served by public transit. Greater Victoria is one
of the few places in North America where double-deck buses are used in
the regular public transit system.
Proposals have been made for a "fixed link" to the mainland for over a
century. Because of the extreme depth of the Georgia Strait and
potential seismic activity, a bridge or tunnel would face monumental
engineering, safety, and environmental challenges at a prohibitive cost.
Air:
Victoria International Airport is the major airport on Vancouver Island.
In 2005, it was the 9th busiest airport in Canada in terms of passenger
movements (1,280,420).[11] Five major carriers (Air Canada, Air Canada
Jazz, Horizon Air, Pacific Coastal Airlines, and WestJet) offer a
variety of flights of short and medium distance including to and from
Seattle, Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto. The only other international
airport on the island, CFB Comox, offers direct flights to Puerto
Vallarta, Mexico, on a weekly basis.
Other smaller airports on Vancouver Island include Nanaimo harbour and
Campbell River. In 2008, WestJet starts direct flight three times per
week to Las Vegas, and United Airlines will begin direct flights to the
San Francisco Bay Area; these will be seasonal flights.
Floatplane and helicopter traffic to and from Victoria's inner harbour
accounts for approximately 300,000 additional passengers per year,[12]
making it the second busiest airport on Vancouver Island. Much of the
floatplane traffic is downtown-to-downtown services from Victoria
harbour to Vancouver harbour or Nanaimo harbour, most of which is
carried by the operations Harbour Air, West Coast Air, and Baxter
Aviation. Harbour Air also flies to other areas around Vancouver. These
carriers make several daily scheduled flights, weather permitting.
