Extra summer sailings scheduled for BC Ferries, but not Gabriola route

Rachelle Stein-Wotten

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

BC Ferries says they are expecting a record number of passengers this summer, and has made some changes following last year’s high season issues.

“I think we’ve made some major strides,” BC Ferries (BCF) spokesperson Jeff Groot said at a media briefing May 15.

Changes include tightening the off-season refit schedule with the aim to be finished annual maintenance three weeks before high season begins in June and setting up consolidated current conditions webpages for minor routes that include vessel tracking and live terminal cameras. More hiring and increased wages have contributed to fewer sailing cancellations due to crewing issues, Darren Johnston, vice president of marine operations, said.

The ferry service has also added 350 sailings across routes this year over last year. Few of those are for minor routes, however, Johnston said. “It’s typically a lot less [for minor routes] because with the exception of Vancouver Island to Denman Island, none of the minor routes have what we call supplementary service for an additional ship put on the route. There are some routes where we expand the service day and put on an extra roundtrip later in the evening.”

For several months, the Gabriola Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC) has been pushing for updates to the Gabriola-Nanaimo schedule to alleviate hours-long waits, especially in summer in the afternoons, and has proposed adding an extra sailing at the end of the day, but BCF has not committed to such requests.

Steve Earle, Gabriola FAC co-chair, said at present the committee is “working with BCF on a trial shift of the summer schedule.” While Earle could not provide further details at this time, he said discussions do not involve adding an extra sailing.