Ferries docking at and leaving the Langdale terminal have been full and then some since the end of the Victoria Day long weekend.
Since May 25 “there has been overloads on Route 3 from both Horseshoe Bay and Langdale,” BC Ferries communications executive director Deborah Marshall told Coast Reporter May 31.
Over the weekend vehicle traffic rose by nearly 38 per cent while passenger traffic rose by 51 per cent compared to the weekend of May 14.
May long weekend, meanwhile, was comparatively quiet, with no change in vehicle traffic from the week prior, according to Marshall, though an “IT issue” caused the company’s traffic recording system to fail on a 3:15 p.m. sailing out of Langdale, forcing passengers to line up as far as Smith Road while waiting for another ferry.
“Our IT department fixed it as quickly as they could,” said Marshall, adding there haven’t been issues since.
The increase in traffic correlates to the lifting of a provincial travel advisory for people to stay within their home communities and other lockdown measures that have been in place since late March.
On May 25 provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said to prevent potential COVID-19 spread in communities, provincial travel restrictions will not be lifted until June 15 at the earliest, but recreational travel would be permitted within residents' regions.
The Sunshine Coast is the only ferry destination available to recreational travellers within the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions.
- With files from Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press
