Bowen Island

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bowen Island (originally Nex̱wlélex̱m in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim), British Columbia, is an island municipality in Howe Sound, that is part of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. In addition, Bowen Island is included within the jurisdiction of the Islands Trust.Bowen Island is approximately 6 km wide by 12 km long, with the island at its closest point about 3 km west of the mainland. There is regular ferry service from Horseshoe Bay, as well as semi-regular water taxi services. The population of 3,680 is supplemented in the summer by roughly 1,500 visitors, as Bowen Island is a popular vacation home location for British Columbians. Approximately 500 workers and over 200 students commute to offices and schools on the mainland each day. The island has a land area of 49.94 km² (19.28 sq mi).

Transportation

Marine

Bowen Island is served by three scheduled water-transportation operators:

• BC Ferries, a de facto Provincial Crown corporation, serves the island with the Queen of Capilano car ferry, which travels between Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver and Snug Cove on Bowen Island.
• English Bay Launch runs a passenger-only water taxi weekday commuter service between Snug Cove and Vancouver’s Coal Harbour, and on summer weekends runs a tourist service between Snug Cove and Vancouver’s Granville Island.
• Cormorant Marine runs a passenger-only water taxi service providing late-night sailings between the government docks in Horseshoe Bay and in Snug Cove. In addition, weekday commuter sailings are made between Snug Cove and Horseshoe Bay, to connect with the Bowen Express Bus from downtown Vancouver.

Land

Public roads are maintained by the Bowen Island Municipality. There are roadside walking trails in only a few places and the terrain is hilly and winding. Private vehicles are the primary form of transportation and hitchhiking is commonplace.

Bowen Island has a limited bus service (ending at 7 p.m.) of two TransLink routes:

• Route C10 – Bluewater/Snug Cove
• Route C11 – EagleCliff/Snug Cove