In a Vancouver Island commentary published Nov. 10, 2026, Robin S. Cox says B.C. Ferries’ website and telephone systems failed during a fall storm that led to cancellations.
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In a commentary published Nov. 10, 2026, Vancouver Island resident Robin S. Cox, a professor at Royal Roads University, said the first major fall storm to reach British Columbia’s coast brought high winds and rough seas, prompting B.C. Ferries to cancel sailings.
Cox wrote that when he tried to access B.C. Ferries’ website at 9:30 on Friday morning, the site was not working, and neither was the telephone system.
The commentary says that several hours later, Cox and many others still could not access reservations online until a queue was added, and that the attempt to make a reservation then froze after the reservation system also crashed.
Cox said B.C. Ferries updated its Current Conditions page to show which sailings were cancelled, but that without online or phone rebooking, there was no reliable way to make alternative travel arrangements.
The commentary also describes people being stranded, including those at terminals camping out on the floor and those not at terminals being unsure whether to proceed or how to arrange alternatives.
Cox writes that while storms can disrupt ferry travel, the reservation and customer-service systems should be able to handle the surge in demand during predictable fall and winter disruptions.
The commentary further points to Budget 2026’s proposal of $1.3 billion over eight years to renew the federal Ferry Services Contribution Program, and argues that a coastal ferry funding agreement in British Columbia has not been modernized since 1977.
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