One of the great things about Squamish is our proximity to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.
Many of us have connections on the Sunshine Coast, Bowen Island, or Vancouver Island.
Some locals work for BC Ferries.
But it is increasingly hard not to be grumpy about the ferry service.
In the summer or on any long-weekend or holiday it is challenging to book a ferry for the times when you want or need to go over, as routes sell out fast—unless you would like to go over to Nanaimo on Sunday night on the 10:40 p.m. sailing and return on the 6:15 a.m. sailing on Monday morning. (For that you still need to book a week or more in advance.)
Currently, it costs more than $100 one way for a driver and vehicle—an increasingly steep price for what many consider an extension of B.C.’s highway system
The B.C. ferry service costs a lot more than in Washington, for example, for the Puget Sound ferries.
And, starting Oct. 15, all customers travelling from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo by vehicle (including motorcycles) have to book and pay in advance, before arriving at the terminal.
No more arriving and sticking it out until a sailing comes available.
The reason they are doing this is to accommodate construction at the terminal, which will not leave enough space for vehicles to come and hang out, waiting for a ferry, BC Ferries says in its Aug. 7 news release.
And the terminal definitely could use an upgrade.
According to the press release, the Horseshoe Bay terminal has been in continuous operation for 65 years, serving 7.1 million passengers and three million vehicles in 2024 alone.
It is tired.
However, all this makes it increasingly unattractive to travel to the places that, let’s face it, all rely on tourism to some degree.
Can you imagine being an unwitting tourist family, spending their hard earned money to come to “Beautiful B.C.,” showing up at the terminal to go to the island only to discover, not only will it take a big chunk of the holiday budget, you can’t get on the boat without having previously bought a ticket, which there are none of unless you want to go and come back on a Tuesday between noon and 5 p.m.?
If the goal of BC Ferries is to turn people off travelling to their destinations, they are doing a good job.
Unfortunately, it will be tempting for many to take their valid frustrations out on the frontline workers at BC Ferries, when they likely don’t like it any more than the rest of us.
All this to say, BC Ferries, we want to support you, especially those of us in the Sea to Sky Corridor who are your Horseshoe Bay neighbours, but our patience is increasingly setting sail—destination, Grumpy Island.
