B.C. Ferries is adding two sailings to the route connecting the Sunshine Coast and the mainland.

The additional sailings come seven weeks after a B.C. Ferry Commissioner probe revealed that the route lost $30 million — $24 million including subsidies — in the 2025 fiscal year, even though it had an increase in passenger traffic.

The ferries on Route 3 between Horseshoe Bay and Langdale operate every hour during the summer months. The new sailings announced are during the highest demand times throughout the year.

Gibsons Mayor Silas White said the community has been asking for more sailings during the shoulder season.

“Our community is not getting satisfactory service right now, at least to our standards,” White said.

A total of 120 additional sailings will depart from Horseshoe Bay at 3:45 p.m. and 6:05 p.m. and return sailings from Langdale are scheduled for 4:55 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. from mid-May to late June, and September to mid-October.

“B.C. Ferries actually offers excellent service most of the time,” White said. “Those times when people are stuck in the terminals waiting, when ferries are cancelled, that sticks in people’s minds.”

According to the commissioner, the route reached record highs in 2025 with more than 2.7 million passengers, an increase of 2.5 per cent.

White said having a second vessel is necessary.

“That second boat in the summer … is actually a money loser for them because they need a whole new crew for that boat,” White said.

B.C. Ferries executive director of communications Jeff Groot said the additional sailings were possible due to the Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo route being fully bookable.

“This is actually revenue neutral for us,” he said.

Reservations increasing

Along with the two additional sailings being offered, B.C. Ferries is increasing the overall reservations on the route to 70 per cent, with bookable space varying by sailing.

“These are changes that we know, are going to benefit the community,” Groot said.

The route is only utilized, on average, 60 per cent, according to B.C. Ferries.

“We don’t have enough people on those sailings,” Groot said.

The reservations will be available on less-busy sailings and will offer customers fare saver prices.

“When they have the option, they can travel on those, but it also opens up those busier sailings for people who just don’t have the choice,” Groot said.

B.C. Ferries hopes to increase to 80 per cent reservation on the route.

“The only way that we can actually offer the significant increase in saver fares is by increasing the reservation percentage,” Groot said.

Despite these changes, Groot said drive-up space will be available on every vessel.

“This is not a situation where there’s going to be a fully bookable ship on this route,” he said.

‘Super frustrating’

Poppy Hallam is a West Sechelt parent who has to travel to the mainland multiple times a week. She says the increase in sailings is helpful.

“If it’s anywhere closer to the way the summer ferries are, it would be amazing,” Hallam said.

She has lived on the coast for seven years.

“It’s just getting worse and worse,” Hallam said. “My kids are growing up, and I need to go to the city, and it’s getting super frustrating.”

She’s now putting her house up for sale and leaving the Sunshine Coast for Vancouver Island.

She said her 15-year-old son has medical appointments in Vancouver, and her 12-year-old son is a hockey goalie.

“We take the ferry three times a week at minimum, and we have to get reservations both ways,” Hallam said. “I’m looking at a minimum of $400 a week 10 ten weeks in the spring, like $4,000.”

She said adding extra reservations is not the answer to the problem.

“It’s becoming elitist to just be able to travel,” Hallam said.

Ferry advisory committee

The Town of Gibsons is putting together a ferry advisory committee of roughly six to eight volunteers in response to the recent changes.

White said it will be similar to a previous committee, but this one will be community-led and people will be appointed after applying.

“It’s to express the community voice, support our local governments in advocating and expressing the community voice,” White said.

A petition, with more than 2,400 signatures, was created asking for free reservations for residents on the Sunshine Coast.

White said this is something that the committee could look into if it is viable.

“Sometimes those asks can be more complicated than people realize,” White said.