How we allocate space on board

Routes with advanced bookings

Space for vehicles on board is allocated for both advanced bookings and customers that drive to the terminal without a booking. The percentage of deck space made available to book in advance is based on historical demand and aims to minimize the likelihood of sailing waits for all customers.

You can book in advance on the following routes:

REGION	ROUTE	VEHICLE BOOKINGS	FOOT PASSENGER BOOKINGS
South Coast	Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Victoria (Swartz Bay)	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✓
	Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Nanaimo (Duke Point)	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✓
	Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) – Nanaimo (Departure Bay)	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✓
	Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) – Sunshine Coast (Langdale)	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✘
	Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Southern Gulf Islands	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✓
Sunshine Coast	Comox (Little River) – Powell River (Westview)	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✓
Central and North Coast	Port Hardy (Bear Cove) – Prince Rupert	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✓
	Port Hardy (Bear Cove) – Central Coast (Bella Coola)	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✓
	Central Coast Connector (Bella Bella, Ocean Falls, Bella Coola and Shearwater)	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✓
	Prince Rupert – Haida Gwaii (Skidegate)	Vehicle bookings✓	Foot passenger bookings✓

How much vehicle deck space is allocated to customers who book in advance?

On some routes we adjust the amount of bookable vehicle deck space depending on how much area is available at the terminal to stage vehicles, how much deck space is on the ferry, and the amount of demand. This includes space for commercial vehicles and buses.

We review historical demand to help decide how much space to set aside. We provide travel certainty for customers who want to book in advance, while keeping a percentage of deck space for customers who want to drive up to the terminal.

Adjusting the amount of reservable deck space helps us to minimize the likelihood of sailing waits for customers travelling without a booking. Approximately 5–25% of customers who book in advance don’t show up for their sailing.
 

Route	Lowest % deck space bookable	Highest % deck space bookable	Avg % deck space bookable	Avg % deck space sailed as booked
Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Victoria (Swartz Bay)	Lowest % deck space bookable 50%	Highest % deck space bookable 90%	Average % deck space bookable 80%	Average % deck space sailed as booked 70%
Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Nanaimo (Duke Point)	Lowest % deck space bookable 70%	Highest % deck space bookable 90%	Average % deck space bookable 80%	Average % deck space sailed as booked 70%
Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) – Nanaimo (Departure Bay)	Lowest % deck space bookable 0%	Highest % deck space bookable 90%	Average % deck space bookable 80%	Average % deck space sailed as booked 60%
Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) – Sunshine Coast (Langdale)	Lowest % deck space bookable 0%	Highest % deck space bookable 70%	Average % deck space bookable 50%	Average % deck space sailed as booked 40%
Comox (Little River) – Powell River (Westview)*	Lowest % deck space bookable 30%	Highest % deck space bookable 65%	Average % deck space bookable 45%	Average % deck space sailed as booked 25%

* Based on daily sailing frequency, demand and deck space, the percentage of bookable deck space on these routes remains consistent at 30%.

 

Fully bookable routes

Some of our routes have 100%* of vehicle and passenger space available for booking in advance. Sailings on these routes are often less frequent. Booking the entire sailing provides customers travel certainty so they don’t have long waits of  hours (or even days) between sailings. The following routes are fully bookable:

• Port Hardy (Bear Cove) – Prince Rupert
• Prince Rupert – Haida Gwaii (Skidegate)
• Port Hardy (Bear Cove) – Central Coast (Bella Coola)
• Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Southern Gulf Islands

*Note: All bookable routes have a buffer of space on each sailing that is held for emergency vehicles and priority travel. On fully bookable routes, we will hold approximately 5-10 vehicle spaces to ensure we can accommodate for unplanned emergency travel to or from these communities. Scenarios may include police in active pursuit, utility companies responding to an outage that affects a community, or fire crews heading to an active fire. If no vehicles require use of this buffer space, it will be made available to customers who are travelling on stand-by.

Waitlists are available on bookable Northern and Southern Gulf Island sailings. If a sailing is full, you can request to be added to a waitlist in case of a cancellation. Find more information about waitlists.
 

Foot passenger bookings

On June 24, 2021, we introduced foot passenger bookings on our busiest South Coast routes between Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Victoria (Swartz Bay), Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Nanaimo (Duke Point) and Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) – Nanaimo (Departure Bay). On these sailings we allocate approximately 50 foot passenger bookings per sailing. Over time we will look to increase the number of bookable space based on demand.

Foot passenger space is 100% bookable on the following routes between:

• Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Southern Gulf Islands
• Port Hardy (Bear Cove) – Prince Rupert
• Prince Rupert – Haida Gwaii (Skidegate)
• Port Hardy (Bear Cove) – Central Coast (Bella Coola)