Saving Money on BC Ferries
Just the other day Hubs and I decided to head over to the Mainland for the weekend.
Yes, I know. Long weekend+nice weather= HUGE ferry line ups. We decided to make a reservation. While I was plunking down my $17 to get a spot on the ferry, I decided to check the rates.
At that point I choked on my coffee and nearly needed CPR.
In the past three years, ferry rates have risen from $46 for a family of three and underheight vehicle on our route, to a whopping $72. They’re kidding, right? I mean it’s bad enough that we have to travel just to buy socks and underwear, that to get an optometrist appointment locally we must wait 6 months or more, and any specialist appointment has to be in Vancouver. To then make it almost unaffordable for many residents has some locals screaming that somehow the government should just build a bridge.
Anyway. Hubs went off to work grumbling about the craziness of it all, and then a co-worker let him in on a little secret…..
….pick up a BC Ferries Experience card.
I didn’t really believe him at first. Supposedly you get this thing, and load it online or at a terminal. You choose between passenger only savings (with a minimum balance of $40) or vehicle/passenger (minimum balance $75). Then you use the card when you board. Right, I said. It says that you get “savings when they are available.” Knowing BC Ferries, that’s like…NEVER.
I am happy to say I was wrong. Last night we boarded the ferry, and lo and behold, we had gotten a discounted rate from using the Experience Card. How much? About $20. I’m sure every route is different, but if you take the ferries a lot, they are definitely worth checking out.
After all, that $20 comes in handy to cover the gas.
8.31.08 at 3:42 pm
crunchy comments:
That is good news..I wondered about those.
Of course, folks like you and other who DEPEND on the ferry should get some sort of break ANYWAY..but yeah..
it stopped me traveling over to the island this summer…
9.5.08 at 10:59 pm
Dave 2 comments:
I remember the great outrage at the rate increase of the late 70s, when Car&Driver doubled from $7.00, where it had been since 1960, to $14.00. Of course, then a bus ride in Vancouver was $0.50, now it’s $2.50, or 5 times as much… 14 x 5 is 70, so I guess the inflation is similiar, if you made $15,000/year in 1977 you’d need to make $75,000/year today just to stay even. Crazy.
9.6.08 at 3:30 am
SmalltownRN comments:
That’s good to know…we travel to the mainland on a fairly regular basis both for work and pleasure….when it is work we end up paying for an overheight vehicle pluse passengers…sometimes it’s over $100….
When I first started taking the ferry regularly about 4 years ago…it cost me $35.00 car and driver….now it costs me $56 at minimum….see I don’t generally travel alone to the mainland….if I didn’t need my car when I got the mainland I would just go as a walk on…but even those prices are going up. My daughters visit the Island regularly and travel as walk ons….they wouldn’t be able to visit as often if they would like to…..
I don’t think a bridge is the answer anyways…it would end up being a toll bridge and it would just ruin the beauty of the crossing anyhow…..
SmalltownRNs last blog post..Tell me what you think….
9.6.08 at 10:07 am
Scatteredmom comments:
In all honesty I’d pay to take a toll bridge over taking a ferry any day-but we don’t live on the Island so it would be different.
Scatteredmoms last blog post..Fabulicious Friday #25