Needles Ferry
Needles Ferry
Locale	Needles−Fauquier
Waterway	Lower Arrow Lake
Transit type	Passenger and vehicle ferry
Carries	Hwy 6
Owner	BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure
Operator	WaterBridge Ferries Inc.
System length	0.9 km (0.6 mi)
No. of lines	1
No. of vessels	1
No. of terminals	2
Website	www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/passenger-travel/water-travel/inland-ferries/needles-cable-ferry

Needles Ferry

Location in British Columbia

The Needles Ferry is a cable ferry across Lower Arrow Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. Linking Needles and Fauquier, the ferry, part of BC Highway 6, is by road about 135 kilometres (84 mi) southeast of Vernon and 57 kilometres (35 mi) southwest of Nakusp.

Timeline

1913: Farmers built the first vehicle ferry using Ford Model T parts.^[1]^{[self-published source]} Apart from a reference to a rudimentary raft in 1922,^[2] no evidence exists of a service most years.^[3]
1924: Government ferry launched, which comprised a log raft pushed by a launch.^[4] This free service, had a one-car capacity.^[5]
1928: Larger boat introduced.^[5]
1931: Wooden hulled cable ferry installed,^[4] having three-car capacity.^[5] Crossings were hourly.^[4]
1941: Upgraded to eight-car capacity.^[5]
1952: Upgraded to 16-car capacity.^[5]
1955: Service increased from 12 to 24 hours per day.^[5]
1967: Replacement bridge confirmed, but never eventuated.^[6]
1968: Both terminals rebuilt on submerging by the reservoir for the Keenleyside Dam.^[7]
1969: Diesel-powered Needles with 28-car capacity introduced.^[4]
1990: Needles relocated to Upper Arrow Lake Ferry route. Replaced by a 40-vehicle, 150-passenger cable ferry. At 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) was longest haul cable in North America.^[4]
2002: Service reduced to 17 hours per day.^[8]
2004: Western Pacific Marine became the service contractor.^[9]
c.2013: WaterBridge Ferries became the service provider.
2019: Ferry crew observed a submerged pickup truck just off the Needles ferry landing.^[10]

Patronage

Prior to 1960

Patronage (1924–1947)^a (Double these numbers for single trips)
Type	Year	Page	Round Trips	Motor Vehicles	Horse- drawn rigs	Passengers	Freight (tons)	Livestock	Total Vehicles
Power boat	1924–25	Q38	01,008	256	30	2,186	00682	36	286
	1925–26	Q38	01,852	002,557	56	4,037	42	100	002,613
	1926–27	P46	02,264	001,604	44	6,004	46	96	001,648
	1927–28	U52	07,138	001,530	40	5,162	39	41	001,570
	1928–29	S61	02,155	002,442	38	5,972	89	86	002,480
	1929–30	T74	02,155	002,366	79	5,899	68	87	002,445
Power cable	1930–31	G50	04,102	004,790	0231	0011,354	00340	172	005,021
	1931–32	M40	04,117	005,244	0385	0011,836	00582	159	005,629
	1932–33	Q36	04,049	004,438	0369	0013,203	00503	135	004,807
	1933–34	O32	04,675	004,740	0510	0014,827	00784	259	005,250
	1934–35	T37	05,427	006,181	0700	0018,449	00719	605	006,881
	1935–36	I44	05,637	006,882	0661	0018,834	00820	239	007,543
	1936–37	X52	05,992	007,733	0825	0019,804	00998	355	008,558
	1937–38	X55	06,823	009,046	0911	0022,305	01,292	228	009,957
	1938–39	Z56	06,580	009,188	0758	0020,605	01,830	262	009,946
	1939–40	P56	07,220	009,346	0541	0021,324	01,938	310	009,887
	1940–41	O47	07,109	010,237	0359	0018,403	01,181	360	010,596
	1941–42	T52	06,628	010,894	0229	0020,010	02,116	590	011,123
	1942–43	O52	05,764	008,318	0316	0014,367	03,525	441	008,634
	1943–44	Q52	04,984	007,359	0225	0012,679	01,730	426	007,584
	1944–45	O51	04,985	007,284	0074	0014,699	01,814	217	007,358
	1945–46	Q58	05,426	008,620	0264	0014,037	01,707	330	008,884
	1946–47	P47	07,262	011,971	0088	0027,079	07,416	345	012,059

^a . Extracted from the respective Ministry of Public Works annual reports.

Patronage (1947–1960)^b (Double these numbers for single trips)
Type	Year	Page	Round Trips	Passenger Autos	Passengers (Drivers excluded)	Trucks	Trailers & Semis	Buses	Motor- cycles	Horse- drawn rigs	Freight (tons)	Livestock	Misc. Veh.	Total Vehicles
Power cable	1947–48	N56	07,435	6,759	30,300	004,466	01,426	01,625	0020	0146	02,750	163		014,442
	1948–49	O60	09,953	0010,558	49,803	006,427	394	01,787	0029	0164	06,361	170		019,359
	1949–50	Q74	12,928	0015,311	60,151	009,970	433	01,737	0019	0071	06,798	140		027,541
	1950–51	N77	14,437	0016,854	60,045	011,635	208	01,450	0018	0074	06,179	174		030,239
	1951–52	P83	12,868	0012,758	52,322	010,200	372	01,535	0010	0045	04,614	99		024,920
	1952–53	O85	12,738	0013,662	50,004	009,071	852	02,067	0030	0063	05,317	136		025,745
	1953–54	M93	16,009	0019,216	60,776	011,911	544	01,997	0063	0018	04,560	84		033,749
	1954–55	K95	15,506	0017,828	55,003	011,733	558	02,035	0026	0025	04,891	110		032,205
	1955–56	N88	14,601	0016,783	48,373	010,947	379	01,661	0011	0026		67	004	029,811
	1956–57	J100	15,326	0018,103	52,668	013,254	601	00919	4	0031		60		032,912
	1957–58	G53	15,428	0020,400	56,907	013,420	528	00720	0010	0012		71	006	035,096
	1958–59	G36	14,226	0018,863	53,049	010,515	515	00870	0012			104		030,775
	1959–60	F41	15,226	0020,939	53,077	011,450	561	00718	0010	8		82		033,686

^b . Extracted from the respective Ministry of Public Works or Ministry of Highways annual reports.

Operation

The ferry operates under private contract with the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and is free of tolls, as are all inland ferries in British Columbia.^[11]

Departures are every thirty minutes, from the first at 5 am until the last at 10 pm, with a crossing time of about five minutes. The ferry has capacity for 40 vehicles and 135 passengers.^[12]

Timeline

Patronage

Operation

See also

Footnotes

References