Feb
2
By Marg Gardiner, President, JBNA
The 2015 cruise season will soon be upon us. Unfortunately, with an additional 80,000 passengers, a 19% increase from 2014, a comparable increase in cruise-related highway-style tour bus activity is expected.
The increase is due to additional ships and larger ship size. For example, the 2015 Friday and Saturday Princess ships hold 500 more passengers each than the 2014 Princess ships, accounting for 20,000 of the 80,000 increase. In 2015, the largest ships in Victoria will hold up to 3,700 passengers plus crew.
As of mid-January we have not been informed of any steps taken by either GVHA or the City to mitigate the congestion, emissions, and noise created by these buses.
JBNA has been monitoring the impact of cruise-tourism on our community for eight years. In 2014, JBNA obtained and analyzed 2014 traffic data as recorded by the City.
Situation
By 2004, community concerns at JBNA meetings were buses, noise, and emissions related to cruise-ship activity. In 2009 JBNA embarked on an impact study of cruise-tourism that included ground transportation impacts. In a Resident Survey, quantity of tour buses and bus noise were the top transportation concerns, followed by motorcycles, ship emissions and float-plane noise.
Noise levels along Dallas, Douglas and Quebec are high even on days with no cruise-ships in port. Traffic noise was studied in 2009 and 2011. The 1-hour average noise level increases on Dallas averaged 5.4dBA on a 3-ship evening, and were as high as 8.8dBA, increasing subjective loudness by 32-84%. Residents rightly complain that their quality of life is adversely affected. Noise levels are well above levels for healthy living, particularly during evening “quiet-hours”; based upon the World Health Organization Community Noise Guidelines.
Eight years ago, ships came 2-3 evenings a week with some days of the week being free of ships. Ships arrive almost any day now. Visits remain concentrated on evening calls.
Many, or perhaps most, of the buses used for tours are 1984 vintage. Only a few buses built since 2000 have been introduced; no ‘electric’ buses have been used.
2014 Findings
There are three sources that could provide transportation data, namely manual observation (counting with aid of security cameras), GVHA tariff revenue associated with vehicle access to Ogden Point, and City of Victoria traffic counts. JBNA considers the City data on vehicle movements to be the most reliable and comprehensive as it counts all traffic movements at a particular location for a set period of time.
City traffic data from 2011 and 12 indicate 350 additional vehicle movements per cruise-ship call on Dallas with 40-46 of these being buses.
Overall, there appears to have been an increase of about 200 vehicles per ship call on both Dallas and Douglas from 2012 to 2014. On Douglas, which at any point in time has a high volume of buses, the 35 additional movements per ship represents about a 3-fold increase on a 3-ship evening.
In addition to per-ship analysis, the impact on an hourly basis was computed. During the day, with one ship in port, the hourly increase of buses on Dallas is almost a doubling, from 10.6 to 18.3 buses per hour.
In the evening hours, the hourly bus movements are more than tripled on Dallas and Douglas.
Oswego receives about 200 additional vehicle movements per cruise-ship call.
One can hear a bus when it is ½ or a block away. The “noise-impact” time for a bus to pass by any given point can range from 45 seconds to a couple of minutes, or more if during the Dallas gridlock. This means that residents experience hours of almost “solid” or continuous bus noise.
Although more passengers may be walking, GVHA counts suggest that with 57% taking buses in 2014 compared to 58% taking buses in 2012 there has not been any significant reduction in the proportion of passengers taking buses. Rather, smaller vehicles and non-motorized transportation alternatives are being squeezed out, in proportional terms.
In 2014, residents living near Ogden Point were disturbed by early morning bus idling as early as 5:10 am. The 2012 commitment to not have buses coming or going before 6 am was cast aside after only a little more than one year.
Considerations
Buses will never be eliminated. Rerouting buses from one part of James Bay to another is NOT a solution. Any solution must include newer technology for both tour and shuttle buses and the support of a broader people movement strategy.
This brings us to what may be the nub of the problem. GVHA is financially dependent on the cruise-industry. In addition to the berthing fees, there is a spill-over effect to GVHA marinas, attractions and property services with some GVHA tenants becoming dependent on the cruise-industry.
GVHA is now in the bus business, which was never intended to be part of its core mandate. Water and land vehicles must have permits. In addition to the permit, charges include $2 for each bus passenger. Privately arranged tours are charged up to $200/trip. This could amount to several hundred thousand dollars of revenue each year. It is not in GVHA’s financial interest to have passengers walk.
If the cruise-ships which stop in Victoria did not stop in Canada on their Alaskan cruises, the US government would collect fines totaling $150 million/year. That value could be considered the base-line value of calls to Victoria for the industry.
Residents of James Bay are absorbing most of the environmental and social costs which accompany the financial benefits garnered by GVHA, Butchart Gardens, bus operators, the cruise-industry itself, and to a much lesser degree some downtown businesses.
JBNA & GVHA Discussions
From 2011 through to early 2013, JBNA met with GVHA staff to discuss identified priorities directed at lessening the impacts of the cruise-activity. JBNA has also met with the GVHA Board and made several presentations.
The JBNA position has been clear, consistent, and directed to mitigation, to bringing the tour industry into the 21st century, and to demanding that GVHA become a more socially and environmentally responsible entity.
A JBNA priority has been, and remains, altering the scheduling of the ships. We believe that GVHA, through its tariff – both with a carrot and a stick - could alter cruise-line behaviour resulting in earlier and staggered arrivals and departures. This would go some way to resolving traffic surge issues.
Another JBNA priority has been to convince GVHA to limit bus access to Ogden Point, rewarding green modern vehicles while penalizing old technology.
To provide transport industry advice, GVHA commissioned a report in early 2012 – from Boulevard Consulting – seeking a strategy to transform the fleets. The recommended 10-year strategy would have led to a quieter fleet with NO buses over 70dBA by 2015 - this year. Although the study was directed to the shuttle; JBNA clearly expected the strategy to hold for all cruise-related buses. Most cruise-related buses (90%) are not shuttle buses. Much of the Wilson fleet is 1984 vintage.
The Boulevard strategy appears to have been discarded. There is NO commitment to phase out the old fleet. Sadly, a few months ago GVHA defined “new” buses as any additions to the fleet and requires them to be 16 years old or newer. We were told that there would be no phase-out strategy of the old buses.
How do we get change?
Where does that leave residents? Residents complain about congestion, emissions and noise problems, and difficulty crossing streets.
There are five organizations or groups that could change things - quickly. Each has been aware of the issues for years, but none has shown leadership: GVHA, cruise-lines, Butchart Gardens, City of Victoria, and bus operators.
GVHA priorities have been business interests over resident well-being. If the GVHA Board does not create a mandate to resolve transportation issues, operational staff can’t do much. The GVHA Board has not taken the People Movement Strategy seriously, with commitment.
Walking and the David Foster pathway have become the “do-nothing’ response to residents. Passengers make transportation decisions BEFORE they disembark. Cruise-lines promote what they make money from – activities on the ship and shore-excursions sold before arriving in port. Nevertheless, gains could be made.
Rather than promote Victoria as a walkable city, the industry and those at the information booth at Ogden Point promote “attractions”. Information needs to get into the Seattle cruise-ship terminal about the ease of walking in Victoria. This is NOT dependent on further development of the harbour pathway.
The City could explore ways to ‘tax’ these operations in some way, be it as a access to bus-stop fee, or through licensing of buses. The best way to increase walking is to include a social and environmental pricing in the bus passenger fees. If bus fares go up to include the full environmental and social costs, market forces will have more passengers walking.
The 19% anticipated passenger growth this season is 10% more than the previous peak year of 2012, reflecting a growth of more than 25% over 4-5 years. As the total number of passengers ashore increases, so does the number of buses.
The 230 ship calls in 2015 include three ship-calls in April and November, with the May through September months having 227 ship-calls on 110 days.