BC Ferries’ website mishap ‘won’t be happening happen again’, transportation minister says

A day after a major website mishap inaccurately told BC Ferries customers there was a nine-sailing wait on the Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay route, the province’s transportation minister says he’s been “assured” a similar situation “won’t be happening happen again.”

Minister Rob Fleming says the corporation chalked up the communication failure Tuesday to old technology.

“Technology and a complete overhaul is one of the strategic goals of the new CEO and it can’t come fast enough. What happened yesterday, they have assured our ministry, will be fixed within a week,” he said Wednesday.

The BC Ferries Tsawwassen Terminal on Monday July 25th, 2023. (CityNews Image)

According to Fleming, in addition to addressing technology shortfalls, BC Ferries has also committed to fixes on multiple fronts, including staffing.

However, he admits this sort of thing “doesn’t happen overnight.”

“That is no comfort to anyone who is on a multiple-sailing wait right now, but we’ve got to continue to make progress and get better and get through this summer as best we can, and I know it will get better,” the minister explained.

On Tuesday, BC Ferries’ Current Conditions page was showing sailings were fully booked well into the evening, even before 6 a.m. hit. The corporation later said that the waits displayed online were “not accurate.”

“What we were seeing represented on Current Conditions simply wasn’t matching up with what knew was happening at the terminal,” Karen Johnston, executive director of communications and engagement for BC Ferries, told CityNews, conceding that while there was a wait for most passengers, it was often only about one to two sailings.

The issue came amid an already-challenging time for BC Ferries, which was forced to pull the Coastal Celebration vessel from service due to a mechanical issue a week prior.

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Johnston explained that when the Coastal Celebration was taken out of service, the corporation increased its booking allocations “to maximize and to honor those reservations” on the other available sailings as best as possible.

“[Tuesday] morning, what happened was we saw a high number of those with reservations not show up at the terminal for their sailing. So what, in fact, was the situation at Tsawwassen was that most of our morning traffic was cleared by 11 a.m. with most passengers in the morning experiencing a one to two sailing wait,” she added.

Johnston went on to say that the website “does not show an accurate picture of what is happening at the terminals,” adding staff were manually overriding the page as they worked to fit people who were scheduled to sail on the Coastal Celebration on other vessels.

Fleming says what happened wasn’t just terrible for travellers but also BC Ferries’ bottom line.

“Yesterday, we potentially turned away loads of customers. People were relying on inaccurate information and making travelling decisions based on that. That can’t happen and I know the CEO and the team there are working on ensuring that it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

The Tsawwassen BC Ferries terminal on July 25, 2023. A number of sailings were cancelled over multiple days due to the Coastal Celebration being pulled from service because of a mechanical issue. (CityNews Image)

The Coastal Celebration is currently undergoing repairs for what’s been described as a problem with at least one propeller blade. While BC Ferries engineer Stephen Jones tells CityNews the goal is to have the vessel fixed by the weekend, it’ll all depend on the complexity of the issue.

Meanwhile, City of Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog says the constant problems and delays on busy weekends are becoming tiresome.

“The unreliability of the service is very frustrating. It’s not like we can turn to another highway, so to speak. It is the highway to the Island for most people,” he told CityNews.

A new private ferry service has started selling tickets to those travelling on foot between Nanaimo and Vancouver.

Hullo will set sail August 14, and provide eight sailings a day. A round-trip ticket will cost about $75.

“It won’t fill in all the gaps. Those people that need to bring a vehicle – you need a BC Ferry. There’s no ifs ands or buts.

“Having said that, if you don’t need to bring a vehicle with you, the Hullo service, I think, is going to have a very significant impact,” Krog said.

-With files from Emily Marsten and Kier Junos