A drastic fall in demand for ferry travel on BC Ferries resulted in service schedule changes on local routes. The Canadian state-owned company BC Ferries announced on Friday, April 3, that it is reducing service on numerous routes for the next 2 months in order to protect the safety and health of communities and ferry workers and to adjust to the decrease in travellers.
As of Saturday, April 4, BC Ferries introduces service reductions that will remain in effect for 2 months and will, in conjunction with the province, go on to monitor the situation in order to ensure essential service levels are maintained and determine when services can be restored to the previous levels.
- All services on Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay, linking West Vancouver and Nanaimo, as well as Mill Bay-Brentwood Bay routes, are ceased.
- Sailings on Horseshoe Bay-Langdale route, connecting West Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast, is reduced from 8 to 6 round trips a day.
- Sailings on Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay (connecting Metro Vancouver and Victoria BC), as well as Tsawwassen-Duke Point (connecting Vancouver BC and Nanaimo) routes, are reduced from 8 to 4 round trips a day. 4 cargo-only trips on the Tsawwassen-Duke Point route are added for the transport of essential goods.
- Changes for Swartz Bay-Southern Gulf Islands and Tsawwassen-Southern Gulf Islands routes are still being determined.
- Service to all mid-coast and northern communities remain at the current off-peak service levels. The summer service on Bella Coola-Port Hardy route will not be introduced during this period.
All other routes, for now, remain unchanged. BC Ferries president and CEO stated that the reductions will consequently result in layoffs for employees.
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