UPDATE — June 26, 2019;

Vancouver's busy Aquatic Centre ferry dock has now reopened after it was closed for several days while it underwent temporary repairs.

The city, which owns the dock, says a replacement will be built in the fall.

EARLIER;

A dock on the busiest ferry route in Vancouver is out of service, forcing a local company that operates it to scramble during the busy summer season.

False Creek Ferries shuttles residents and tourists around Vancouver's False Creek using 17 boats, which stop at nine terminals along the waterway.

It's one of two ferry companies that shuttle foot passengers between various points along False Creek.

False Creek Ferries' busiest route is the one that goes between the dock at the Aquatic Centre on Beach Avenue and Granville Island.

On Friday afternoon, the dock, which is owned and operated by the City of Vancouver, was shut due to a structural problem with the ramp that leads to and from a floating dock.

Jeremy Patterson, operations manager with the company says the dock is crucial to ferry operations and needs to be replaced.

"The dock is past its best-before date is a nice way to say it," he said. "It's very run down and very old and it's needed replacing for a long time, but it hasn't really been top of mind for the city I'm guessing."

The city says the repair is minor and will take a few days to fix.

Hornby Street dock

People wanting to travel to Granville Island from the West End can instead go to the dock at the bottom on Hornby Street, which is used by Aquabus, the False Creek Ferries' competitor.

Aquabus is allowing False Creek Ferries to run its service in tandem from the dock until repairs are completed at the Aquatic Centre dock.

Commuters will only have to pay a one-zone ticket from the False Creek Ferries terminal at David Lam Park, east of the Granville Street bridge on the north shore of False Creek, to the Maritime Museum in Kitsilano.

SERVICE BULLETIN: Due to a structural fault at our Aquatic Centre Ferry Dock we have closed the terminal for emergency repairs. We will update this as soon as we can reopen. We apologize for any inconvenience. All other routes are available. The nearest dock is David Lam Park. —@FalseCreekFerry

The city has earmarked $1 million to upgrade the dock to make it more accessible, safer and potentially include a canoe or kayak launch.

Patterson says False Creek Ferries built the dock in 1984 and then replaced it 10 years later. In the early 2000s, the city took it over as a public dock.

Since 2010, Patterson says there have been several temporary or emergency repairs to the dock, completed by the city.

He had hoped it would have been replaced by March of this year.