BC Ferries passengers taking vehicles to or from Vancouver Island without reservations on Friday must be prepared to wait — or possibly not sail at all.
Traffic to Vancouver Island, in particular, is heavy, with several-sailing waits on routes and sailing delays due to the volume of traffic.
As of 2:15 p.m., B.C. Ferries warned that on the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route vehicle deck space was near capacity for the rest of the day as passengers waited in 25 C heat.
Non-reserved vehicles are unlikely to get on a sailing Friday unless they had already passed through the ticket booth. There was still walk-on space. Reserved traffic has been moving normally, the company said.
On the Departure Bay-Horseshoe Bay route, deck space was nearly full for standby travel until 8:30 p.m. There was room for vehicles only on the last sailings of the day from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver and Nanaimo’s Departure Bay (10:40 p.m.), and from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay in Victoria (9 p.m.)
Motorists without reservations will be turned away once the staging areas filled up, BC Ferries said. But for those willing to leave their vehicle behind, there was still room for foot passengers.
Travellers going from Tsawwassen to Duke Point also faced lengthy waits, with space available only on the 8:15 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. trips.
Several sailings on the main and minor routes were delayed because of the time taken to load and unload vessels due to the heavy volume of traffic.
On top of it all, BC Ferries’ website was unavailable due to what the corporation called a “technical issue.” Up-to-date information can be found through BC Ferries on Twitter, or through this current conditions page.
BC Ferries is down one vessel this weekend and cancelled eight sailings between Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen when work on the Coastal Celebration took longer than expected.
More than 6,000 bookings were transferred to the Spirit of Vancouver Island and the Spirit of British Columbia — the largest vessels in the fleet — and the Queen of New Westminster to accommodate those with reservations.
The Coastal Celebration was expected back in service by June 15 but that has been pushed back to July 4. Its return date depends on repairs being completed smoothly and successful ship trials, scheduled for Sunday.
