Bowen Island, British Columbia
Living on Bowen Island, by the numbers
Bowen had a population of 4,256 at the 2021 census, in 1,724 occupied private dwellings on 50.12 km² of land, 20 minutes by ferry from West Vancouver. Everything below carries its source and its date. Where we could not verify something, it says so.
The island
Who lives here, and who governs
| Population | 4,256 at the 2021 census, up 15.7 per cent from 2016 |
|---|---|
| Dwellings | 1,724 occupied private dwellings |
| Land area | 50.12 km², a density of 84.9 people per km² |
| Local government | Bowen Island Municipality (Island municipality), 580 Bowen Island Trunk Road, Bowen Island, BC V0N 1G2; 604-947-4255; bim@bimbc.ca |
| Regional district | Metro Vancouver Regional District (Greater Vancouver Regional District) |
| Islands Trust | Bowen Island Municipality is the only island municipality in the Islands Trust Area. It is represented on Islands Trust Council by two municipal trustees who are also municipal councillors. It does its own land use planning, but must submit its Official Community Plan bylaws to Islands Trust for approval and refer other bylaws that engage the Islands Trust Policy Statement. |
The Islands Trust line matters more than it looks. Bowen writes its own zoning and issues its own building permits, which is why buying and building here works like buying and building in any BC municipality.
Schools
Kindergarten to grade 7 on the island
Bowen Island Community School (BICS), kindergarten to grade 7, public, West Vancouver School District. An official community school since 1974.
Most high school students attend West Vancouver's Rockridge Secondary, Sentinel Secondary or West Vancouver Secondary. Students travel free on the ferry.
Island Pacific School, a private day school on Bowen, takes up to 70 students in grades 6 to 9 (International Baccalaureate Middle Years). Island Discovery Learning Community offers child-led and home-learning support programmes.
French Immersion at Pauline Johnson Elementary in West Vancouver is an option for middle school. Early years: Bowen Island Preschool, Bowen Island Montessori Preschool, and Bowen Children's Centre.
The practical point for a family: primary school is a short drive, and high school is a ferry crossing each way, every day, for five years. Teenagers here grow up on the 7:30 boat.
Services
Health, fire, water and the village
| Health | Bowen Island Community Health Centre, 1037 Miller Road, 604-947-9986 - family physicians, a nurse practitioner and other health professionals by appointment. Cates Pharmacy in Snug Cove fills prescriptions on island. LifeLabs offers medical testing twice weekly by appointment. Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, massage, counselling and a Friday dentist are also available. BC Ambulance serves the island; emergencies are 911. |
|---|---|
| Fire | Bowen Island Fire Rescue. The Disclosure Statement states the closest municipal fire hall is 4 km from the Development. |
| Library | Bowen Island Public Library, in Snug Cove. |
| Recreation | Bowen Island Community Centre with a fitness centre and rental space, municipal recreation programmes, trails, beaches and parks, and the Metro Vancouver regional park at Cape Roger Curtis. |
| Golf | Bowen Island Golf Club, 9 holes, par 35 |
| Water | Bowen Island Municipality operates seven water systems: Cove Bay, Bluewater Park, Bowen Bay, Eagle Cliff, Hood Point, King Edward Bay and Tunstall Bay, plus the Snug Cove sewer system. Arbutus Ridge is inside the King Edward Bay system. Water use restrictions run from May 1 to October 31 each year on all seven municipal systems, with Stage 1 in effect by default between May 1 and October 15. On September 4, 2026 every system, King Edward Bay included, was on Stage 3: no lawn watering, garden watering by hand, spring-loaded nozzle or drip line only, no filling of pools, hot tubs, fountains or ponds. |
| Village | Snug Cove is the island's village hub at the ferry terminal, with restaurants, retail, medical offices, a pharmacy, a public library, a post office and a credit union. Crippen Regional Park surrounds it. |
Hospital care, specialists and emergency surgery are on the mainland. That is the biggest practical difference between island life and North Shore life, and it is worth thinking through before buying rather than after.
Getting around
The bus, the water taxi and the van pool
TransLink route 280 Bluewater/Snug Cove is the on-island bus. Routes 250 and 257 run on the mainland side, between the Horseshoe Bay terminal and Vancouver. The nearest stop to Arbutus Ridge is Windjammer Rd at Arbutus Point Rd, route 280 Bluewater - about 715 m by road from the Hayes Road / Joan Audrey Lane entrance and about 950 m from 774 Hayes Road.
Cormorant Marine (Cormorant Water Taxi), 604-250-2630, operates foot-passenger water taxi service to Bowen Island by charter. Its online booking covers scheduled runs to Gambier-area destinations; Bowen and other destinations are charter bookings by phone.
Bowen Van Pool runs a weekday service to UBC via downtown Vancouver, departing 6:20 am with an assured 5:45 pm return loading. Bowen LIFT is a ride-sharing programme along the main routes. Compass Cards are accepted on the island buses with 90-minute transfers.
Utilities
Internet, power and what reaches the lot line
Telecommunications and internet service is brought to the lot line. Statutory Right of Way BB394451 in favour of Telus Communications Inc. is registered against the lands. That is a duct and a right of way, not a subscription: the service itself is a contract between you and a provider.
We are not going to tell you there is fibre at Hayes Road, because we could not find a source that says so. Cable plant has been built in the immediate area and a Telus right of way is registered against the land, but availability and speed vary by address here. Confirm with Telus, by address, before you rely on working from home.
Natural gas: Not available - the Disclosure Statement states 'Not applicable' for natural gas. Heating is electric, a heat pump or wood.
Money
Property tax and what houses cost
The 2026 rates bylaw (Bowen Island Municipality Annual Tax Rates Bylaw No. 717, 2026 - adopted 27 April 2026) sets the residential rates. The municipal levy is 2.594193 per $1,000 of assessed value, the Metro Vancouver levy 0.056395 and the Islands Trust levy 0.139355, a combined 2.789943. Provincial school tax and the other levies are billed on the same notice and are not set by that bylaw, so treat the combined figure as three lines on your bill rather than the whole of it.
On the housing market, Greater Vancouver REALTORS put the benchmark price for a detached home on Bowen Island at $1,389,700 in August 2026, with a median selling price of $1,522,500 across nine sales, and 13 detached homes listed for sale (Greater Vancouver REALTORS monthly statistics package, August 2026). Those are finished houses. Land is a separate and much wider market, covered in the land-cost guide.
Does not apply on Bowen Island. Bowen Island Municipality is not on the list of taxable areas, and the province states that 'Islands that are accessible only by air or water are not part of the taxable areas, except for Vancouver Island.'
The ferry
The thing that shapes every day
The ferry, in numbers as of September 4, 2026
- 20 minutes Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver) to Snug Cove on the Queen of Capilano, Route 8. No reservations: vehicles and walk-ons board in order of arrival.
- 15 sailings a day from Horseshoe Bay on weekdays, first 5:45 am, last 11:00 pm; 16 from Snug Cove, first 5:15 am, last 11:30 pm. Saturdays drop one late-evening sailing each way; Sundays start at 6:15 am from Snug Cove.
- Fares are return, collected on the way to Bowen: adult $12.45, vehicle under 20 ft $35.55, so a car and driver pay $48.00. A BC Ferries Experience Card saves $4.70 per adult and $12.05 per vehicle, about 35% for a car and driver.
- Without a car: West Vancouver Blue Bus routes 250 and 257 stop at the Horseshoe Bay terminal; on Bowen, route 280 Bluewater runs along Windjammer Road (nearest stop about 700 m from Hayes Road). Cormorant Marine runs a foot-passenger water taxi from Snug Cove.
- Door to door: about 20 minutes from the lots to Snug Cove, 20 minutes on the water, then 26 minutes from Horseshoe Bay to downtown Vancouver or 18 to Park Royal in normal traffic.
Schedule season Jun 03, 2026 - Mar 31, 2027. Live timetable and conditions: bcferries.com.
The full commute guide: timetable both ways, fares, walk-on and water-taxi options
See it on a weekday
The honest test of island life is an ordinary Tuesday, not a sunny Saturday. Tours take about two hours including the ferry, by appointment, and we send the Disclosure Statement and the site plan the same day.
This is not an offer for sale. Any such offering may only be made with a disclosure statement. E.&O.E.