Stories from Tri-City News headlines of decades past will be a recurring feature as the publication marks its 40th anniversary in 2024.
Long before SkyTrain and West Coast Express carried commuters from the Tri-Cities into Vancouver, the owners of a 60-foot tunnel-hulled ship called Pride of Vancouver were getting ready to launch their own private service.
James MacMillan and Vancouver doctor William Chan proposed twice daily sailings between the pier at Port Moody’s Rocky Point Park and the SeaBus terminal. The 55-minute journeys would depart at 7 a.m. in the morning and return for Port Moody at 5:30 p.m. The trips would cost $4.50 each way, or $165 for a monthly pass.
In a presentation to Port Moody council, MacMillan said the service needed 50 passengers each way to break even, but he hoped to attract up to 150. He said he planned to launch on Jan. 24, 1994.
But some councillors weren’t so keen on passing a bylaw that would grant the Pride of Vancouver permission to use the pier and set docking fees for the craft and parking rates for passengers. They were concerned the commercial enterprise wouldn’t be an appropriate use for the public park.
Others — led by then Mayor John Northey — said the effort to provide an alternative way for commuters to get to Vancouver and ease traffic congestion was laudable and worth granting the company use of the facility for a trial run lasting into May.
The bylaw ultimately passed on Jan. 24, and a week later the ship had its maiden commuter voyage with only 12 passengers and a contingent of reporters, photographers and camera operators from several media outlets
Slowed by an incoming tide, the craft arrived in Vancouver 16 minutes late.
It may have been an ominous omen.
A week later MacMillan was offering free rides and adjusting his schedule to get passengers into Vancouver and back to Port Moody earlier.
"Everybody has said our times are wrong," he told the Tri-City News.
But even those adjustments weren’t enticing enough to get commuters out of their cars.
MacMillan lowered the fare to $3.50 each way and even threw in a free B.C. Transit transfer in an effort to build traffic.
Less than a month after it launched, though, the commuter ferry service was sunk.
Its last voyage carried 26 passengers — more than the average load of seven a sailing it carried in its final week, but far less than the craft’s capacity of 200.
The Tri-City News has covered civic affairs, local crime, festivals, events, personalities, sports and arts in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody since 1983. Bound back issues of the paper are available at the Coquitlam Archives, while digital versions of several past years can be found at issuu.com.
