Route 3 Service Changes – Sept 9 to Oct 9, 2023

Route 3 will experience some service disruptions between September 9 and at least October 9, 2023 as a result of the Coastal Renaissance being out of service. Over this time, the following sailings will be cancelled:

We know the loss of the 5:30pm sailing has significant impact on those who commute using this route, and we wish to give everyone as much time as possible to plan their journey. We sincerely apologize for the impact we know this will have for you.

Those with reservations on the cancelled sailings will be contacted by our Customer Care team to let them know if space is available on an alternate sailing. It’s expected all impacted customers will be accommodated. Bookings that must be cancelled will be refunded in full and a voucher for free ferry travel at another time will be provided. For those without reservations, we wish to assure you that there is still space available on our other sailings, with about half of the deck held for drive-up traffic.

Why is this disruption happening?

Our operation is large and complex, we do not have spare ships available to fill in when unexpected mechanical issues happen, so we must move existing vessels around and change schedules to accommodate as many customers as possible with the available resources.

In this instance, a ship from the Departure Bay – Nanaimo route (Route 2) usually moves to Route 3 on weekdays to provide the 5:30pm service, however with the loss of the Coastal Renaissance on Route 2, we must make ship and schedule changes that allow us to maintain the minimum level of service we are contractually obligated to provide. Route 3 service levels remain within contractually obligated levels, but some supplementary service will be lost over this time with the cancellation of the sailings noted above.