The Albion Ferry was a passenger and vehicle

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service that sailed on the

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

between

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

and Fort Langley in the Lower Fraser Valley region of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada from June 2, 1957, until July 31, 2009. Originally operated by the Ministry of Highways as part of their inland ferry services, a single vessel – MV ''T'Lagunna'' – provided service every hour from 1:00am to 6:00am and every 30 minutes during the rest of the day. It ran continuously when there were overloads.. Named for the Halqemeylem name for the Golden Ears, it had originally served the communities of

Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

and Rosedale as MV ''Agassiz''. Built in 1931, it had a vehicle capacity of just 16 cars. Tolls of 40 cents per car and driver, and 10 cents per additional passenger, were initially charged but these were removed on February 15, 1972, and the service remained free thereafter. In 1978, after many years of complaints about safety and reliability another ferry – MV ''Kulleet'' – was put into service alongside ''T'Lagunna''. In 1985, ''Kulleet's'' sister ship, MV ''Klatawa'' replaced ''T'Lagunna'', which was kept as a spare until 1986. Both ''Kulleet'' and ''Klatawa'' had previously been servicing short routes in the

Gulf Islands The Gulf Islands is a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia Coast, mainland coast of British Columbia. Etymology The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia", the original term used by Geor ...

. ''T'Lagunna'' was sold for use as a cargo barge, and eventually sank in Howe Sound; it was salvaged in 2011. In 1998, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (operating as TransLink) was created to handle all transportation in greater Vancouver, including the Albion ferry. A subsidiary company, Fraser River Marine Transportation Ltd., was created to operate the ferry. At a 50th anniversary celebration in June 2007, a commemorative plaque was placed by Maple Ridge's Community Heritage Commission at the Albion ferry terminal. The ferry service was retired shortly after the Golden Ears Bridge opened to traffic on June 16, 2009. The last sailings for ''Kulleet'' and ''Klatawa'' took place on July 31, 2009, just after noon. At the end of its life the ferry employed 58 full-time and as many as 20 auxiliary employees; 2006 traffic amounted to 1.5 million vehicles and 4.0 million passengers. The two ferries were sold in 2011 for $400,000 to a local marine transportation company.

References

{{Crossings navbox, reverse=yes , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Albion Ferry , bridge signs = , upstream = Mission Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream = Golden Ears Bridge , downstream signs = Ferries of British Columbia TransLink (British Columbia) Maple Ridge, British Columbia Transport in Langley, British Columbia (district municipality) Crossings of the Fraser River 1957 establishments in British Columbia 2009 disestablishments in British Columbia

See also

References