Bays Blackhall rides her bicycle every morning. She runs a store in Fort Langley and is a driving force behind anything with a heritage flavour in the village. Not surprisingly, she meets a lot of people.
The face of Fort Langley will undoubtedly change when the Golden Ears Bridge opens next year, and the Fort Langley-Albion ferry ceases operation at that time. In her conversations with the people she meets, Blackhall is finding a great deal of support for a ferry service to continue, but for pedestrians and cyclists only. "Everyone I mention it to says it's a wonderful idea," Blackhall said.
She said the cyclists she meets would much rather take a ferry from Fort Langley to Maple Ridge, than cycle over the Golden Ears Bridge, even though that bridge will have lanes for cyclists and walkers.
Blackhall has written about her idea to Township council, noting that TransLink has informed her that a bicycle/pedestrian ferry from Haney to Derby Reach and Fort Langley would be the responsibility of Township and Metro Vancouver.
But while he likes the idea, Mayor Kurt Alberts told council on Monday afternoon that "it's not a municipal government responsibility to get into that service." He said a service run privately makes sense. "It has the potential for a fantastic recreation resource," he said after the meeting.
Alberts added that a pedestrian/cyclist ferry would likely dock along the Bedford Channel where it would eventually tie in with a trail system that is being developed on both sides of the Fraser River, from Chilliwack to the mouth of the river. He said a dock on the west side of the Jacob Haldi Bridge could be used.
He said that foot passengers could also use the service to reach the West Coast Express station, which is about a 20 minute walk from the Albion ferry dock.
Council referred Blackhall's letter to staff.