Send this page to someone via email

TransLink’s newsest SeaBus won’t be ready for service until 2020.

The new $32-million vessel, dubbed the Burrard Chinook, had initially been slated to already be making regular trips between Waterfront Station and Lonsdale Quay.

But officials determined the it sat too low in the water after it underwent August sea trials.

The Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) said the problem is not a safety issue, but one of comfort.

WATCH: Transit users say the newest SeaBus vessels are too hot

2:12 Transit users say the newest SeaBus vessels are too hot Transit users say the newest SeaBus vessels are too hot

“Because it’s sitting a little bit low if there’s wave interactions the waves can come up and touch the bottom of the vessel,” said CMBC president and general manager Mike McDaniel.

Story continues below advertisement

“That can create either a sound or vibration that customers may perceive as hitting something in the water.”

The good news is that customers won’t be impacted.

TransLink’s ‘spare’ SeaBus, The Burrard Beaver, will run while The Burrard Chinook undergoes modifications.

McDaniel said who will be on the hook for the modifications is still under discussion with the Dutch shipyard that built the vessel.