BC Ferries is promising to do whatever it can to avoid the kind of terminal congestion that forced some passengers to miss their reservations on Good Friday.
Even though the company scheduled an extra 89 sailings for the Easter long weekend, staff couldn't keep up with the waves of passengers who showed up at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal.
By Friday afternoon, there was already a four-sailing wait on trips to Swartz Bay, and a two-sailing wait to Duke Point.
On Saturday, spokesperson Astrid Braunschmidt assured customers BC Ferries is taking "additional measures to improve the flow of traffic towards the end of the long weekend to help (them) get to their destinations."
"Increased traffic control will be in place Sunday and Monday leading to the Swartz Bay terminal," Braunschmidt told CTV News in an email. The same will be true for Departure Bay.
Easter weekend is one of the busiest times of year for BC Ferries, and the company prepared by bringing in extra staff, scheduling additional trips and taking some extra traffic control measures.
But Braunschmidt said it was even busier than expected, with some 25,000 passengers travelling through the Tsawwassen terminal on Friday alone.
"Traffic volumes were certainly above normal," Braunschmidt said.
BC Ferries couldn't confirm how many people were forced to miss their reservations because some people simply decide not to use them, or book multiple reservations for safety's sake.
Anyone who couldn't claim their reservation on Friday because of traffic can contact the BC Ferries customer relations team online for a refund, Braunschmidt said.
Current wait times are available on the BC Ferries website.
