The Albion Ferry was a passenger and vehicle ferry service that sailed on the Fraser River between Albion and

Fort Langley Fort Langley is a village community in Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of approximately 3,400 people. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company ...

in the Lower Fraser Valley region of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, 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 – M.V. ''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 Halkomelem (; in the Upriver dialect, in the Island dialect, and in the Downriver dialect) is a language of various First Nations peoples of the British Columbia Coast. It is spoken in what is now British Columbia, ranging from southeastern ...

name for the Golden Ears, it had originally served the communities of Agassiz and Rosedale as M.V. ''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 – M.V. ''Kulleet'' – was put into service alongside ''T'Lagunna''. In 1985, ''Kulleet's'' sister ship, M.V. ''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 are a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia. Etymology The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia," the original term used by George Vancouver in his ...

. ''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 Transit Authority (later known 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 The Golden Ears Bridge is a six-lane extradosed bridge in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia. It spans the Fraser River, connecting Langley on the south side with Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge on the north side. The bridge opened to traffic on Ju ...

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 = Fraser River , bridge = Albion Ferry , bridge signs = , upstream = Mission Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream =

, 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