Responding to what we've heard

Thank you to everyone who participated in our engagement sessions and online over the past several weeks. We heard from:

  • 170 people at our round table conversations on Denman Island
  • 90 people at our round table conversations on Hornby Island
  • 399 people through our online engagement


Our online engagement is now closed and our third-party facilitators are busy compiling all the feedback we’ve received into a comprehensive report. You can expect to see it in a few weeks’ time.

The team has already started to review the feedback, and while we explore longer-term changes, we’re working on some immediate changes in response to what we’ve heard, including:

Supporting safe travel on Denman

In the coming weeks, you will begin to see messaging on our digital signs at the Buckley Bay and Hornby Island terminals, in BC Ferries’ social media feeds, and in the travel tips and advisories we issue for routes 21 and 22 asking all our customers to please drive safely and respectfully while on Denman Island. This is just one way BC Ferries can support safe travel on Denman, and we are exploring other opportunities to work with partners and stakeholders in the longer term.

Getting ready for the busy summer season

We clearly heard about the challenges of peak summer season for Denman and Hornby travellers. Here’s what we’re doing this season:

  • We have enhanced sailing schedules with two-ship service on Route 21 Monday-Friday, and have placed the Quinitsa on Route 22. During the round-table conversations you asked us look at the Monday to Friday schedule for two-ship service, more on that below.

  • We have doubled the support staff available at terminals this summer season to improve traffic management. We need to ensure our staff are safe and in compliance with WorkSafe BC regulations, so traffic control off of BC Ferries’ property will occur only during daylight hours and from the shoulder of the road/passenger side of the vehicle as much as possible.

  • We will not shuttle between Hornby and Denman when there is only one ship sailing between Denman and Buckley Bay. This is to help prevent major back-ups at the Denman West terminal.

Planning our next conversations with you

Denman East terminal project. We will be back later this year to discuss options for the Denman East terminal design. We will look at these options together and discuss the benefits and tradeoffs involved with different terminal layouts, including how designs will impact the environment and terminal safety. You can expect to hear more detail about these sessions later this summer.

Hornby Island terminal project. We are looking ahead to upgrades at the Hornby Island terminal and would like to walk the site with community members as a starting point for this work. We will be using the Terminal Development Plan that was created for the Hornby Island terminal as an initial guide, however we need to better understand how these plans fit with current community needs. The site visits at the terminal will bring us together to discuss plans and how to adjust them to mitigate impacts and preserve community character in the work we do. You can expect to hear more about this work in the fall.

Answering your top-of-mind questions

What is the process for Hornby Islanders who do not make the 15-car priority loading on the first sailing of the day, i.e. what do you do when you reach the terminal if you’re the 16th car?

We heard from Hornby Islanders that it can be confusing for people who do not receive one of the 15-car priority loading passes to know what to do when they reach the Denman West terminal. We are working with our terminal and vessel staff to update and simplify this process in response to what we’ve heard. We’ll communicate an updated process to the community later this summer.

In the meantime, the current policy remains in place and we will situate staff at Denman West terminal to facilitate a safe and smooth 8:00am sailing. The current policy for vehicles without a priority pass on the first sailing of the day is as follows:

  • If the light is green, please proceed into the terminal holding lanes in the order you arrive and fill the holding lanes until they are full.
  • If the light is red, please hold on the hill behind the priority pass customers.

What is the policy on transporting livestock to prevent long waits at the terminal in hot weather?

Those transporting livestock will be loaded on the next available sailing with a maximum one sailing wait. Those transporting livestock should make themselves known to terminal or vessel staff when they arrive at busy times so that they can be accommodated accordingly.

Can we change the days of operation for two-ship service?

During round-table conversations last month, you asked us to look at shifting the days we offer two-ship service from Buckley Bay – Denman West from the current Monday – Friday sailing schedule, to Thursday – Monday. This was to provide service on Sundays, which you noted are experienced as peak travel days during the summer.

We have taken this request back to the teams for consideration and although we will not be able to make the change for this summer, we will explore a Thursday-Sunday schedule for next year.

Why can’t we make the change this year?

Changing the schedule at this time represents a risk to reliably crewing the second vessel. We recruited crew to run the second ship on the basis of a Monday-Friday work week. Our crew are a vital part of our operations and some of them are returning from retirement to help us make this additional service happen. We wish to respect the commitments we’ve made to our crew, and operate a service that is as reliable as possible this summer.

How was a Monday – Friday schedule chosen?

A Monday-Friday schedule was established for several reasons:

  • It provides service on the busiest days of the week based on the data we have. We know the community experiences very busy times on Sundays in the summer, and the data we have shows Tuesdays and Wednesdays are as busy, and sometimes busier. We used these statistics when making a decision about the days of service for the second vessel.
  • We were able to reliably crew a second vessel because a Monday – Friday schedule is attractive for recruiting and retaining staff.
  • The schedule services the needs of residents by providing increased service during weekdays when commuting, shopping, business trips, and medical appointments are most likely to occur.

We will be evaluating the service throughout the summer, and have requested community input on how they would like to be involved in this evaluation. We are still reading through online survey results, and what we heard from the community, on this topic. A plan to involve the community in evaluation will be forthcoming.


Once again, we thank everyone who has taken the time to participate. The changes above are initial steps, and there is more work to be done. We look forward to being back out with the Denman and Hornby Island communities this fall to continue our conversations.

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