The Aquabus, also known as, Aquabus Ferries Ltd., is a privately owned and operated ferry service that provides commuter and sightseeing services[1] to locations all along False Creek of central Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Aquabus started service in 1986[2][3].
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The beginning of ferry service throughout False Creek occurred in the summer of 1979 when Brian and Laura Beesley began operating a tour and water taxi service around Granville Island and False Creek.[3][4] The Aquabus Ferry Company was formed in 1986 by Jeff Pratt, the son of George Pratt who was a former partner at competitor Granville Island Ferries division False Creek Ferries.[1] It has since grown along with the population surrounding False Creek. Four Benford designed ferries were in operation by EXPO 86 and the additional three plus a bicycle ferry, Cyquabus I, were in service by 1995.[5] The heritage ferry, the Rainbow Hunter was built in 1950.[6] As the City of Vancouver grew, Aquabus incorporated two more versatile and spacious bicycle ferries, the Cyquabus II and the "Cyquabus III" in 2003[7] and 2006.[8] In the summer of 2008 one of the Benford ferries was converted to a fully electric propulsion system, and has been used as a test platform for Aquabus' exploration of alternative energy.[9] In the spring of 2010 Aquabus acquired two new bicycle ferries, "Cyquabus IV" and "Cyquabus V" and sold the heritage vessel the "Rainbow Hunter".
The Aquabus Ferry Company fleet is currently composed of twelve vessels[9] divided into two classes:
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The Aquabus Ferry Company makes scheduled stops at the following locations:
In 2008 Aquabus converted its seven diesel ferries to clean-burning, biodegradable, non-toxic biodiesel made from used vegetable oil.[9] The vegetable oil is collected from various eateries on Granville Island.[11] However, after experimenting with the BioDiesel mix, it was found that the Biodiesel clouded the fuel lines and clogged the fuel filters. This resulted on settling with a mixture of twenty percent biodiesel in cold weather moving to fifty percent biodiesel in warmer weather.[12] In addition to the biodiesel conversions, one additional ship was converted to an experimental electric motor.[9]