BC Ferries

It’s always fun to take the ferry. Why, they charge per person on a car load I don’t understand. It’s so expensive getting from Vancouver to Vancouver Island with our car. $ 125 one way. Bye Felicia

Don’t pay for reservations, it’s unnecessary. You just have to show up at least an hour before the departure. The ferry is huge! It holds tons of cars.

It serves it purpose going from point A to B and beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to this transportation to get across water. What bugs me are the prices. Ironically if I want to see multiple concerts it’s cheaper for me to take a bolt bus to Seattle and or Portland than it is to see the same show in Victoria.
Prices are stupidly high, especially if you want to get on the island. I had a wedding this weekend and the round trip cost me almost ½ of what a couple should be putting towards a wedding gift anyway.
My wedding gift ended up being my attendance to the ceremony (paritially).

BC Ferries provides an essential service to the residents of Vancouver Island and Gulf Island communities. They are an essential transportation link that was long a public asset, although terrible government decisions took a Crown corporation, started running it like a business with an eye only for profit instead of serving the people who are subject to BC Ferries’ whims, and stopped showing any respect for the communities dependent on their terminals.
Without the connectors provided by this service, many residents and businesses would have no way of getting off the Island or to mainland British Columbia. Critical supplies and cargo pass over the ferries; it’s a key component linking the Trans-​Canada and Island Highways to the rest of the country. Nix the ferries and your options become swim, kayak, fly, scuba car or hoping the American aircraft carriers and destroyers parked in the Nanoose Bay torpedo range will pick you up on the way out. Just as a suggestion, don’t try the latter without having a US/​Canadian dual citizen around.
For the twenty years I lived on the Island and Lower Mainland, I’ve seen BC Ferries at their best and worst. I watched a decline from a proud service my grandfather worked for to a money-​grubbing, increasingly expensive situation. I get the expenses associated with fuel, improvements, and environmental safety (especially as Bowen Islanders get especially grumpy every time a wavelet touches their groomed beaches, say). But it shouldn’t cost $ 100 to take your car and family over one way. Drivers pay through the nose. Support public transit links, sure, and promote green and environmentally friendly living by encouraging people to use the buses. But if you live on Quadra Island or you need to get to Vancouver from Saturna Island, is it really realistic to hope that there’s any form of shuttle service?
BC Ferries’ charges have noticeably increased without a similar rise in customer service and other features. Are we seeing superior safety, enhancements to the boats, fewer service shortages or delays? Honestly, I have not really observed much in the way of making travel easier. I see a lot of nickel and diming for things that shouldn’t happen: extra banking charges, reservations, phone assistance, the little delays that add up here and there.
Notifying the public when there are sailing delays and providing an accurate count for the state of things is also a bit disappointing. I realize the number of vehicles determines the configuration for how many they can take, but if you see the huge holding pens for cars and trucks at Horseshoe Bay, it’s clear something is wrong. Peak season in particular makes travel a headache. If other seafaring maritime nations like Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, and especially Denmark have mastered dealing with open seas, weather issues, and congestion, surely we can try to learn something from them. Take our cues from the Germans for punctuality and the Australians. I’d say that we need an overhaul at the highest levels to change the thinking. I get that the average BC Ferry employee is pretty good, but the administrators need fresh thinking when we have a growing population, a shift in demographics, and no less pressure on ferry services.
We’re held hostage on Vancouver Island to BC Ferries, and that’s even more true for the smaller islands. It shouldn’t be $ 100 to haul two people in a Honda Civic.

Oct.24
BC (Bring Cash) Ferries
I have a love/​hate relationship with BC Ferries, but I could only come up with ten reasons why I DISLIKE them. This was written during a long weekend trip.
1. The «hurry up and wait» game
2. The «no promises» policy.
3. Pulling up to the cashier to use my debit card and being told they do not accept debit. Going to the gift shop and being told they do not use Interac and there is a bank machine over there.(You know, the one that charges $ 1.50 per transaction)…wth!!! Even my pizza delivery guy takes debit now
4. After we waited 90 min to get on the LAST sailing at Horseshoe Bay, we were told «you might not get on».
5. When I left a three foot gap between cars (in the line up after we had been stop and go, stop and go for 90 min) i was told to close the gap. I mean I understand when we are on the ferry but in line!!!
6. Cold sweet potato fries
7. Disgusting muffins
8. No port-​o-​lets, we waited for over 2 hours in that stupid line at Horseshoe Bay without a restroom in sight.(We now know we were 1.5 km from the ticket booth that night)
9. No announcements made at H Bay to tell us the last ferry was late.
10. THE PRICE… did i mention the price? $ 50 to bring my car ONE WAY. then $ 50 to bring it back!!! PLUS I have to pay for the passengers. So $ 160 altogether. it would have been $ 200 if I had reservations. (which would have bought us piece of mind, but ppl told us that reservations are a scam)
We were nice to all the employees and were certainly grateful to get on the ferry… but lemme give you a little insight, people are bitching in their cars all the way home thinking about the top ten reasons why they hate BC Ferries :/​
BUILD A BRIDGE! BUILD A BRIDGE!!! BUILD A BRIDGE!!!

We traveled accross the country from Upstate NY really looking forward to our trip to Victoria from Vancouver! We would love to make another trip to Victoria sometime but with these cost it most likely will not happen!
Very dissappointed in the prices of the BC Ferries! They used trafffic warnings due to the holiday to scare you into doing a reservation. The site really leads you to believe that the $ 17.50 that is paid is part of the $ 80.00 dollars it costs to go across one way. Guess what, it is not, and so my trip costs me $ 97.00 one way. I think it is great to encourage people to reserve so that a company can plan logistics and high-​traffic times, etc., I realize they need to charge a fee to keep people from making a reservation and not keeping it, but when they do, take it off the top! I guess that because they have a monopoly on the business, they are allowed to charge ludicrous fares!
The on-​board services — Very slow at all the restaurants which leaves you spending more time in lines than enjoying the trip.
Recommendation — bring your own food !
Cleanliness — OK. I didn’t find it exceptionally dirty or exceptionally clean.
Ultimately the business on the Island are the ones that are suffering. The BC Ferries REALLY_​REALLY_​REALLY need competition!
Check out my B&B review for Dayspring farm B&B that is where we stayed.

I guess that because they have a monopoly on the business, they are allowed to charge ludicrous fares, run the company inefficiently, and have less than mediocre service.
Businesses/​services that know that they have a corner on the market can choose to take advantage of the people/​public because they know their position and can get away with it, or they can still try and provide the best service and have affordable prices. So obviously it’s easier to go with the former option because they are not worried about competition as the public doesn’t really have many other options!
Prices — ridiculous. Instead of inefficiently running the ferries even when there are less than 20 cars, they could redo their schedule/​planning to provide ferries at an optimum time. Maybe, then they wouldn’t have to charge such ludicrous prices to account for their inefficient mismanagement of their route schedule. And only a business that is out to make shameless amounts of money charges you for reserving ahead of time — $ 17.50 is the price to plan ahead apparently. I can understand that there is a down-​payment that is not reimbursable to deter people from missing their reservations — but an ADDITIONAL charge just for the right to reserve (which the company should APPRECIATE) is just shameless money-​grubbing business. People should be encouraged to reserve so that a company can plan logistics and high-​traffic times, etc., but as per my last paragraph, they have no need to run efficiently or spend any time on logistics when they can have idiots schedule the routes without any time spent on catering to the public, since the only purpose for this company is to make money and they have absolutely no regard for the consumer.
On-​board services — substandard. Slow service at all the restaurants leave you spending the whole time waiting to be served as opposed to being able to enjoy the trip. Recommendation — bring your own food and avoid the long lines, slow service, and substandard food quality.
Cleanliness — OK. I didn’t find it exceptionally dirty or exceptionally clean.
Overall — not a well run business, completely indifferent to the needs of the consumer, not worried about spending money efficiently — all because they are the only option and they are aware that they have no need to cater to anyone but themselves, and they are only interested in making money.
Would I return — only because I have to — it’s a necessary evil — which they obviously are aware of, so they could give two @#*(s what people think.

Took the BC Ferry from Vancouver, BC to Vancouver Island to see Victoria — man is it pricey! For two people and a car it was almost $ 100 one way! BUT, free wifi. That was nice.