Barry Hobbis never intended to run a tourism-driven business or become a mainstay on Victoria’s Inner Harbour, but the general manager of Victoria Harbour Ferry did both and loved every minute of it for nearly 20 years.
That ride is now coming to an end, as Hobbis, 74, intends to retire at the end of this year.
“I am going to take some time to kind of lay back after 20 years,” he said.
The face of the company since 2004, when he pulled in investors to make good on a deal he held together with a $10 deposit to buy the company, Hobbis is now ready to step aside.
He said the time is right to retire as the company is stable, poised for growth and in the capable hands of the Ralmax Group.
Ralmax stepped in to take a controlling stake in the 32-year-old ferry company in the summer of 2020 after it was announced the firm would cease operations in June of that year due to a dispute with the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority.
The purchase and subsequent deal Ralmax signed with the harbour authority for access to key docks at Fisherman’s Wharf and the Inner Causeway in front of the Fairmont Empress Hotel kept the ferry company afloat, and has set the table for the fleet of 17 vessels to take on a bigger role in the region.
“With a team like Ralmax behind us, who’ve just been amazing, and a team inside the company that I trust completely, we’re going to continue to work toward success,” said Hobbis.
Hobbis said since he came aboard in 2004, his focus has been to ensure the company was on solid footing and could weather any changes in management, including his departure.
With Ralmax in charge for the past two years, and with new programming like the Victoria Harbour Lights drawing off- season traffic, he felt the company was in good shape.
Hobbis’s background included more than 15 years as a police officer before he returned to his hometown of Victoria in 1990 and took on work with the provincial government.
He has played a big role in ensuring the company’s stability.
He oversaw significant growth over the last two decades, with the fleet expanding from its original eight boats, while its payroll jumped to about 120 people from the original 30.
“It went from 300 [passengers] the first year to about 11,000 the second year and it just took off on its own,” Hobbis said. “And along the way I just had so much fun and so much challenge.”
He names highlights including the establishment of the Pickle Pub Crawl, which ferried people from one dining spot on the harbour to another, and the creation of the water taxis, complete with checkered livery.
Hobbis, whose retirement plans include cooking and doing more volunteer work with his wife, Fran, said he will miss his staff and getting on a boat and spending time with people on the water.
“There’s nothing that makes your heart soar more than getting on board a boat and asking somebody where they’re from and then spending the next five minutes telling them how you visited there,” he said.
Paul Nursey, chief executive of Destination Greater Victoria, said Hobbis was dedicated to high-quality customer service and coming up with new ideas like the Gorge Waterway cruises and pub crawls, calling him “one of the most engaged and colourful tourism operators in our region.”
Ralmax founder Ian Maxwell said Hobbis has done a tremendous job with Victoria Harbour Ferry, “getting it to where it’s so accepted by the community — I might even use the phrase embraced by the community.”
Maxwell said Hobbis’s work has set the table for Ralmax to take the company to another level, though Maxwell said he intends to “drag [Hobbis] back in for the decision-making process on specific things” as new options for the company are considered.
Maxwell said he hopes Victoria Harbour Ferry will offer people the chance to better understand and appreciate the city from the water.
The first step down that road is the Victoria Harbour Lights tour, a holiday-oriented program where visitors tour the harbour and view scenes projected on the sides of industrial buildings and equipment. Maxwell said he hopes more of the industrial firms along the harbour will join in to expand the Christmas-season attraction.
“I’m hoping people with other ideas will come down and say ‘can we tie into this,’ ” he said. “And if any of the other industrialists want to talk to us about lighting up their place, too, or doing some kind of a display, I think that would be fabulous.”
He would also like to see some of the story of Victoria and its history be told via mixed media and animations around the harbour year-round, all of which would be viewed while passengers ride the ferries.
For his part, Hobbis said he’s available whenever Ralmax wants him to weigh in on the next step for the ferries.
“Ian is a remarkable guy. He’s a visionary and he’s committed to the community,” said Hobbis. “So I could never say to Ian, ‘No, I’m not going to do that.’ ”
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