Long lineups and a shortage of reservations has led some people to resell unneeded B.C. Ferries reservations online.
While B.C. Ferries does not take issue with reselling reservations and most resellers appear to be offering reservations for free or at cost, some residents worry there is the potential to exploit the already overburdened system for profit.
“You could walk up and down the ferry lineup outside the terminal selling a reservation, I’m sure, for twice the price,” said Duane Burnett, administrator of a Facebook group for Sunshine Coast residents.
“It reminds me of ticket scalpers … to see so many people buying, selling, trading or giving away their reservations.”
Vancouver resident Mike Baur recently recouped his costs on two extra August long weekend reservations to Langdale when it was clear he wouldn’t need them.
“The person was very happy to get it,” he said.
Baur, who has a vacation home on the Sunshine Coast, watches the B.C. Ferries website closely when reservations open for the year, then books all his long-weekend sailings. This year, his carefully considered plans went awry when the COVID-19 pandemic forced B.C. Ferries to reduce sailings, then later add more.
The new sailings meant Baur’s reservations were shuffled around, and instead of having a spot on an afternoon ferry on Labour Day, he was scheduled to take an early-morning ship instead.
“I was on the phone for hours trying to change it,” he said. “I must have been one of the first 10 people to book for that day, but it’s obviously not first-come, first-served.”
On the “Sunshine Coast B.C. Ferry Complaints” Facebook page, posts from people seeking reservations to avoid the lineups are becoming increasingly common.
Sunshine Coast resident Shad Light recently gave away a ferry reservation when his father’s medical appointment on the mainland was rescheduled. The woman who took it was coming back from a hospital in Vancouver, where her daughter had undergone heart surgery.
“It was a big deal for her to get that reservation. It shows you what the impact is of the long waits,” Light said.
B.C. Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall said lineups can reach up to eight hours on some routes.
Ferry traffic is down about 30 per cent across the system compared to a normal summer, but there are fewer sailings. Staff must also give priority to residents of coastal communities, as per a ministerial order, “so that means they are bypassing all the non-residents who have to wait, so it’s the non-residents that are facing the major waits,” Marshall said.
