Tempers flare at B.C. ferry terminal as 'assured loading' customers bypass standby crowd

There were tense moments at a ferry terminal outside Victoria, B.C., on Friday after the lion’s share of standby spots on an early sailing were claimed by “assured loading” passengers – leaving regular customers who had been waiting for hours out of luck.

Video from inside the Swartz Bay terminal shows frustrated standby ticketholders arguing with staff after they weren’t able to board the 7 a.m. sailing to Tsawwassen.

“This is a real travesty,” said one woman, who told a BC Ferries employee she had been lined up since 3:30 a.m.

“Two vehicles got on, non-reserved,” shouted a commercial vehicle driver, who said he had been there since 3:45 a.m.

The issue, according to BC Ferries, was that an abnormal number of “assured loading” passengers arrived for that particular sailing.

Assured Loading Cards guarantee passengers a spot, with a standard vehicle, on three of the busiest BC Ferries routes, providing they arrive at least 20 minutes before sailing.

That convenience comes with a price, however – the cards are sold in packs of 10 for $1,880, making them out of reach for many travellers.

‘PEOPLE WERE PRETTY UPSET’

Friday’s heated interaction at the Swartz Bay terminal was captured by Mike Waters, another would-be passenger who showed up at 5 a.m. hoping to sail over to the mainland for two work meetings on Friday. He missed both of them.

Waters said things got so tense inside, BC Ferries threatened to call police.

“People were pretty upset,” he said. “The terminal manager came in to remove people out of the area.”

While he found the anger other customers demonstrated toward BC Ferries staff to be misdirected, he was also stunned that he couldn't board, despite being 10th in line for the sailing.

“I’m used to long wait times, multiple-sailing waits, and whatnot, but it has definitely gotten worse,” he said. “This was the worst I’ve seen it.”

The vessel, the Spirit of Vancouver Island, has a 358-vehicle capacity, and approximately 77 per cent of those spots were reserved in advance.

That means there were 82 open spots heading into the 7 a.m. sailing – but only eight standby vehicles made it on, according to BC Ferries.

Spokesperson Jeff Groot said those vehicles included semi-trucks and other commercial vehicles, so they took up 12 of the available spots. The other 70 were claimed by passengers with Assured Loading Cards.

FERRIES BOOKING UP EARLIER

While that was an unusually high turnout, ferries have been getting busier over recent years, with more weekday reservations filling up in advance, and longer wait times for people in standby.

That could be driving more passengers to pay up for guaranteed boarding.

“It’s something we’re keeping an eye on to see if this is a new trend,” Groot said. “Whether more and more customers are going to be looking to purchase these Assured Loading Cards to make sure that they’ve got a certainty to get across.”

BC Ferries is already looking to ease pressure on the system, hoping to build five new vessels with 40 per cent more passenger capacity and 16 per cent more vehicle capacity. The company believes those bigger vessels are “critical” to maintaining service between Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Lower Mainland as the province's population grows, Groot said.

In the meantime, he urged customers not to take their frustration out on employees who have no control over who boards and who is left waiting for future sailings.

“Obviously these customers didn’t have all the information available to them, obviously it’s a bit of a different situation where we had a higher number of people show up who had Assured Loading Cards,” Groot said. “But our people do their best.”