Editing Vancouver Island (section)

==Transport==

===Sea===
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. Major technical issues and cost are the largest barriers to a bridge currently though exact public support for the idea is not currently known.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/publications/reports_and_studies/fixed_link/fixed_link.htm |title=A Potential Fixed Link to Vancouver Island |publisher=British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure |access-date=2012-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821203226/http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/Publications/reports_and_studies/fixed_link/fixed_link.htm |archive-date=2010-08-21 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The only vehicle access to Vancouver Island is by ferry. [[BC Ferries]], [[Washington State Ferries]] and [[Puget Sound Navigation Company]] (Black Ball Transport) operate the seven vehicle-ferry routes to the island.

In the 1860s a plan was started to link Vancouver Island to the mainland at [[Bute Inlet]], by a bridge, using [[Ripple Rock]] as a mid-support for the bridge. This plan continued through the years, and caused political opposition to destroying Ripple Rock until it was decided to destroy the rock to improve safety for mariners.<ref name="Mindenhall2012">{{cite book |author=Dorothy Mindenhall |title=Unbuilt Victoria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9yfEg0W4lTUC&pg=PA150 |date=12 May 2012 |publisher=Dundurn |isbn=978-1-4597-0175-5 |pages=150–}}</ref>

====BC Ferries====
[[File:Spirit of vi 3.jpg|thumb|BC Ferries [[MV Spirit of Vancouver Island|MV ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'']], en route from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen]]

* [[Tsawwassen, British Columbia|Tsawwassen]] ({{cvt|38|km}} south of Vancouver) – [[Swartz Bay]] ({{cvt|32|km}} north of Victoria)
: Crossing time: 1 hour 35 minutes; 8 sailings per day year-round with added sailings depending on day and season)
* Tsawwassen – [[Duke Point, British Columbia|Duke Point]] ({{cvt|13|km}} south of Nanaimo)
: Crossing time: 2 hours; 8 round trips daily – varies in winter.
* [[Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver|Horseshoe Bay]] ({{cvt|19|km}} northwest of Vancouver) – [[Departure Bay]] ({{cvt|3|km}} north of downtown Nanaimo)
: Crossing time: 1 hour 35 minutes; Sailings every 2 hours with extra sailings during the summer and holidays.
* [[Gulf Islands]] – Swartz Bay
: Crossing time: 35 minutes- 3 hours depending on island of departure; 4 or more trips daily.
* [[Powell River, British Columbia|Powell River]] – [[Comox, British Columbia|Comox]]
: Crossing time: 1 hour 20 minutes; 4 round trips daily.
* [[Port Hardy]] – [[Prince Rupert, British Columbia|Prince Rupert]]
: Service daily or on alternate days; changes seasonally.

====Washington State Ferries====
* [[Anacortes, Washington]] – [[Sidney, British Columbia|Sidney]]
: Crossing time: 2 hours (not counting stops in the [[San Juan Islands]])
: Note that this ferry service is inactive.
: According to the Washington State Department of Transport: International service to and from Sidney, B.C. remains suspended until further notice due to continued significant crewing and vessel availability challenges. There will be no service to and from Sidney through at least Spring of 2030.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://wsdot.com/ferries/vesselwatch/terminaldetail.aspx?terminalid=19 | title=WSDOT - Ferries - Sidney B.C. Ferry Terminal }}</ref>

====Black Ball Transport====
* [[Port Angeles, Washington]] – Victoria
: Crossing time: 1 hour 30 minutes; 1 to 4 round trips daily; changes seasonally.

====Passenger-only service====
[[Hullo (ferry) | Hullo Ferries]] commenced operations between Nanaimo and Vancouver with crossing times of 70 minutes from downtown to downtown. 
* [[Clipper Navigation|Victoria Clipper]] (Seattle, Washington – Victoria)
: Crossing time: 2 hour 45 minutes; 1 to 3 round trips daily

===Rail===
Island Corridor Foundation (ICF) was established in 2006 for the purpose of owning and managing the former Esquimalt and Nanaimo (E&N) Rail Corridor on Vancouver Island now known as the [[Island Rail Corridor]]. The ICF established a contract with [[Southern Railway of British Columbia]] (SRY) to move all rail freight on the Island to and from the Lower Mainland. SRY  assumed operational control from [[RailAmerica]] in July 2006 and currently only offers local freight service on the Nanaimo segment of the Victoria–Courtenay mainline (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 2002. Passenger service, which had been operated by [[VIA Rail]] under contract, was halted in 2011 after it was identified that a portion of the line failed to meet operating requirements for passenger service. Since then, there have been ongoing efforts to secure funding from various levels of government to complete the necessary repairs, but the issue remains fluid.

[[Western Forest Products]] operated the [[Englewood Railway]] which was Canada's last [[Forest railway|logging railway]], running from [[Woss]] to [[Beaver Cove, British Columbia|Beaver Cove]] on the northern end of the island. The former [[Canadian National Railway]] line running from Victoria to the Cowichan Valley was abandoned in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and the former grade between Victoria and Sooke is now the multi-use [[Galloping Goose Regional Trail]]. The [[BC Forest Discovery Centre]] has a [[narrow-gauge railway]] winding around the park, and the [[Alberni Pacific Railway]] operates a tour train during the summer from the restored E&N Railway station in Port Alberni to the McLean's Mill on former E&N Railway trackage that is now owned by the ICF.

===Road===
There is one major north–south highway system on the island, which runs along the eastern side. It begins in Victoria as [[British Columbia Highway 1|Highway 1]] which is part of the [[Trans-Canada Highway]] system as far as Nanaimo. There, [[British Columbia Highway 19|Highway 19]] takes over and continues to Port Hardy. The route is a patchwork of two-, four-, and six-lane roadways between Victoria and Port Hardy. The engineering characteristics and traffic control systems of the roadway vary widely from one city or district to the next and include the following variations:

Trans-Canada Highway:

# Congested, heavily signalized four-lane urban core streets with heavy [[pedestrian]] activity in Victoria and Duncan.
# Short four- to six-lane [[Controlled-access highway|freeways]] with [[interchange (road)|interchange]]s just west of Victoria and just south of Nanaimo.
# A mix of two-lane to four-lane winding mountain [[arterial road|arterial highway]] over the [[Malahat, British Columbia|Malahat]] pass.
# A moderate to heavily signalized four-lane divided arterial highway from Mill Bay to Nanaimo (interrupted by the Duncan urban core).

Highway 19:

# A moderately signalized expressway called the Nanaimo Parkway bypassing Nanaimo.
# A lightly signalized four-lane divided arterial highway from Nanaimo to Parksville.
# A stretch of four-lane high-speed freeway/expressway from Parksville to Campbell River.
# A moderate-speed two-lane arterial highway north from Campbell River to Port Hardy.<ref name="BC highways">{{cite web |author=BC ministry of transportation and infrastructure |title=BC highways |year=2013 |url=http://www.gov.bc.ca/tran/ |access-date=2013-10-24 |archive-date=2013-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020112834/http://www.gov.bc.ca/tran/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Proposals have been made for a mainland-to-island fixed link for over a century. Because of the extreme depth and soft seabed of the Georgia Strait, and the potential for seismic activity, a bridge or tunnel would face monumental engineering, safety, and environmental challenges at a prohibitive cost.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/publications/reports_and_studies/fixed_link/fixed_link.htm |title=A Potential Fixed Link to Vancouver Island – Ministry of Transportation |publisher=Th.gov.bc.ca |access-date=2010-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821203226/http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/Publications/reports_and_studies/fixed_link/fixed_link.htm |archive-date=2010-08-21 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Another north–south route is [[British Columbia Highway 17|Highway 17]] a four-lane divided highway that has a mix of interchanges and traffic lights. It connects Victoria with the [[Saanich Peninsula]], terminating the Vancouver Island portion of its route at the [[Swartz Bay ferry terminal]].

The main east–west routes are mostly two-lane but are generally free of the congestion seen on some of the four-lane highways. They comprise the following:

* [[British Columbia Highway 4|Highway 4]] between Qualicum Beach and Tofino;
* [[British Columbia Highway 14|Highway 14]] between Greater Victoria and [[Port Renfrew]];
* [[British Columbia Highway 18|Highway 18]] between Duncan and [[Lake Cowichan]];
* [[British Columbia Highway 28|Highway 28]] between Campbell River and [[Gold River, British Columbia|Gold River]]; and
* [[British Columbia Highway 30|Highway 30]] between [[Port McNeill]] and [[Port Alice]].

Vancouver Island is also well served by secondary routes, a growing number of which have efficient [[roundabout]]s in place of the [[traffic light]]s that can back up traffic on the main highway routes. Numerous active and decommissioned [[Gravel road#Logging roads|logging]] and [[Gravel road#Forest service road|forest service roads]] provide access to the backcountry.

Many communities are served by public and private transit. Greater Victoria is one of the few places in North America where [[Double-decker bus#Canada|double-decker]] buses are used in the regular public transit system. Tofino Bus All Island Express serves all major cities on Vancouver Island.<ref name="Tofino bus schedule">{{cite web |author=Tofino Bus |title=Tofino Bus schedule |year=2016 |url=http://www.tofinobus.com/schedule |access-date=2016-06-23 |archive-date=2016-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630075149/http://www.tofinobus.com/schedule |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Air===
There are 52 [[List of airports on Vancouver Island|certified airports, registered aerodromes and heliports on Vancouver Island]]. This number includes seven [[List of airports in Greater Victoria|aerodromes and airports in Greater Victoria]].<ref name="cfs">{{CFS}}</ref>

[[Victoria International Airport]], {{airport codes|YYJ|CYYJ}}, is the major airport on Vancouver Island. In 2018, it was the [[List of the busiest airports in Canada|11th busiest airport in Canada]] in terms of passenger movements (1,924,385).<ref name="vic stats1">{{cite web |title=Victoria International Airport Passenger Statistics |url=http://www.victoriaairport.com/pdfs/stats/December_2018_Total_Passengers_BySector_Stats.pdf |publisher=victoriaairport.com |access-date=January 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119121644/http://www.victoriaairport.com/pdfs/stats/December_2018_Total_Passengers_BySector_Stats.pdf |archive-date=January 19, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> As of 2020, carriers include [[Air Canada Express]], [[Air Canada Rouge]], [[Air North]], [[Alaska Airlines]], [[Pacific Coastal Airlines]], [[WestJet]] and [[WestJet Encore]]. They offer a variety of direct flights of short and medium distances including to and from [[Seattle]], [[Calgary]], [[Edmonton]], Vancouver, [[Whitehorse, Yukon|Whitehorse]] and [[Toronto]]. Air Canada Rouge, Pacific Coastal Airlines, [[Sunwing Airlines]], [[Swoop (airline)|Swoop]] and WestJet offer seasonal services to several destinations including Mexico.

Other land-based airports with scheduled services are [[Campbell River Airport|Campbell River]], [[CFB Comox]], (Comox Valley Airport), [[Nanaimo Airport|Nanaimo]], [[Port Hardy Airport|Port Hardy]], [[Qualicum Beach Airport|Qualicum Beach]] and [[Tofino-Long Beach Airport|Tofino/Long Beach]]. In addition, there are seven water airports with scheduled services, [[Campbell River Water Aerodrome|Campbell River]], [[Comox Water Aerodrome|Comox]], [[Nanaimo Harbour Water Aerodrome|Nanaimo Harbour]], [[Port Alberni Water Aerodrome|Port Alberni]], [[Tofino Harbour Water Aerodrome|Tofino Harbour]], [[Victoria Airport Water Aerodrome|Victoria]] and [[Victoria Inner Harbour Airport|Victoria Inner Harbour]].

Much of the [[floatplane]] traffic is downtown-to-downtown service between Victoria Inner Harbour, Nanaimo Harbour and [[Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre|Vancouver Harbour]], the primary carriers being [[Harbour Air Seaplanes]], [[Seair Seaplanes]] and [[Corilair]]. Harbour Air also flies to other areas around Vancouver, service to [[Kenmore Air Harbor Seaplane Base]] on Seattle's [[Lake Union]] is provided by [[Kenmore Air]]. Smaller airlines include [[Tofino Air]], Pacific Seaplanes and Sunshine Coast Air. These carriers make several daily scheduled flights, weather permitting. Helicopter service is provided by [[Helijet]] in Victoria and various private operators elsewhere.