Vancouver Island BC Canada Ferries
It is not possible to route from Vancouver Island to the mainland via the two different ferry terminals available (Departure Bay or Duke Point). Instead ABRP directs drivers two hours south to Victoria. I have been raising this problem for years. There has been a minor improvement in that routing from the mainland is able to route inbound to Duke Point. I understand this is an issue arises from the underlying mapping software, but enough time has passed to fix this. Google and Apple do not have this bug.
- Where does this happen?
- ABRP version number (found at bottom of settings menu)
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Comments5
Nikola
Jun 22
Hello @Paul Evans,
I am able to replicate this problem, but not all the time, sometimes it shows both ferries, sometimes it sends me down to Victoria.
Can you send me the plan where this occurs for you and i will bring it forward to hopefully find a fix.
Thank you
Paul Evans
Jun 22
Hi
There are two ferry routes from the Nanaimo area to the mainland. The first is from Departure Bay and the second from Duke Point. However, the route I plan from my home, north of Nanaimo ignores both of these on outbound and routes via Victoria, a further two hours drive to the south.
https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=2-6a395699-831a28a0d0c635e42fde3692
The Google Maps solution picks the Departure Bay to Horsehoe Bay Ferry crossing
https://maps.app.goo.gl/WR5HpvPC3L7PdXx37?g_st=in
Return is better on ABRP as it picks a closer crossing to Duke Point Nanaimo
https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=2-6a3957fe-0909d2db77a16e7378e3d2c6
Interesting, I find if I set Horseshoe Bay as a waypoint, it will select that ferry. ABRP never used to do that.
ABRP still cannot select the Duke Point ferry as an outbound option and it routes via Victoria or the Departure Bay ferries.
https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=2-6a395caf-2cdbda38851cc4cafd55a42a
Conclusion: Although there is an improvement, there is still a bug as to why it will not select the Departure Bay Ferry when it is the shortest and will not select the Duke Point ferry outbound. But i can work around the former by setting Horsehoe Bay as a waypoint.
Paul Evans
Jun 23
I found that using the Duke Point Ferry terminal near Nanaimo as a waypoint I could force ABRP to route through that ferry out bound. So it begs the questions why does the software route past these two terminals rather than use these as shorter routes? And does it do that elsewhere?
https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=2-6a39f71d-5fefde45eec32f7772061992
Nikola
Jun 23
Hello Paul,
I’m glad you found a workaround.
I talked to one of our developers who explained that there are a lot of ferries in Canada mapped that the path goes from highway, to service road and then back to highway again right before reaching the ferry. This is what is causing this issue.
This is a known issue for them and is currently being worked on
Paul Evans
Jun 23
Thank you. I still sometimes get routed to other ferries, but it must be a problem for visitors that are not aware of these complications. The workarounds work because they cause the route to head to ferry loading point.