ZOE KING
INSIDE VIEW
The contact center plays a key role with ferries. The agents provide information, including updates to customers before boarding and to those expecting them or deliveries. They also facilitate reservations where they are offered or required, including last-minute changes.
As ferries are vital to the people and businesses in the communities they serve, and as ferry services are often publicly-owned, every facet is under the public spotlight. The employees who engage with the customers – including the agents – hear the bad, but sometimes the good. They can relate, as they are often customers too – and in the same boat.
THE BC FERRIES STORY
An independently managed private company contracted to provide ferry services for the Province of British Columbia, in Canada, BC Ferries is one of the world’ s busiest and highly diverse ferry operators. Consider the following:
• In 2024 / 2025 BC Ferries carried a record 22.7 million passengers and 9.7 million vehicles, with demand up for vehicles by 2 % and for passengers by 1 % from 2023 / 2024.
• Between May 15 and August 31, 2025, BC Ferries transported a summer season record of 9.4 million passengers and 3.7 million vehicles across all routes – up 2.2 % and 2.0 % respectively--compared to the same period in 2024.
Little wonder: BC Ferries has 37 vessels of varying sizes that ply a network of 25 routes along 1,000 miles of coastline, encompassing the mainland, Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, and the North Coast, calling at 47 terminals. The communities it serves range in size of 300 or so residents on the smaller islands to over three million in Metro Vancouver.
The routes and journey times range, as examples:
• Campbell River to Quadra Island is one of the shortest, at 10 minutes.
• Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay is the busiest as it connects Metro Vancouver with Victoria, the provincial capital, along with its metro area. Popular also with tourists, especially in summer, the travel time is approximately 1 hour 35 minutes terminal-to-terminal, which are situated south and north of their respective cities.
• The Inside Passage from Port Hardy, on the northern tip of Vancouver Island, to Prince Rupert on the north coast, is the longest and takes some 16 hours to traverse, longer in the off-season when additional stops are made on this route.
The vessels are sized accordingly, and according to demand. Like the 47-car / 399 passenger-and-crew Island K’ ulut’ a and Island Nagalis, the 358-car / 2,100 passenger-and-crew Spirit of Vancouver Island, and the 115-car / 638 passenger-and-crew Northern Expedition signed to the above routes respectively.
The conditions in which these vessels can be smooth sailing on clear days, where passengers crowd the decks taking photos of whales pointed out by the crew, and against dramatic mountain backdrops.
Then there is the fog, winds, rain( and sometimes snow), changing swift currents, tides, unmindful other sailors, and logging debris that BC Ferries’ professional, well-trained, and experienced crews must contend with. Then there are the sometimes-unruly customers and malfunctioning vehicles.
As the lifeline for the province’ s coastal communities, when there is news of BC Ferries it is widely reported and posted on social media and raised and debated by elected officials. BC Ferries is also a major employer and contractor with over 5,000 employees: many of whom are also customers.
If this sounds like I am personally familiar with BC Ferries, that is correct. My wife and I are BC Ferries’ customers, we’ ve called customer service, and yes, we have booked sailings( also see BOX 1).
To learn more about how BC Ferries delivers excellent CXs to residents, visitors, and businesses through its contact center, I had a virtual conversation with its team of professionals. They are:
• Karen Tindall, Director, Customer Care
• Clare Donnelly, Manager, Customer Service Centre, Customer Care
• Zoe King, Manager, Customer Service Centre( Key Accounts), Customer Care
• Rhonda Daye, Manager, Customer Relations, Customer Care
TELL THE STORY OF YOUR CONTACT CENTER. INCLUDE ANY MILESTONES / CHANGES OVER THE YEARS.
ZOE KING
Zoe: We first opened our [ then-named ]“ Reservation Centre” in 1975 at 1045 Howe Street, in downtown Vancouver, to provide information on all BC Ferries routes. It also handled reservations for the southern Gulf Islands( to / from Tsawwassen) and Inside Passage routes.
Additionally, we had toll-free phone lines from Victoria as well as from Salt Spring, Pender, Saturna, Mayne, and Galiano Islands. We typed confirmation of space forms for each regular Inside Passage booking and created manual sailing manifests for the Southern Gulf Islands departures.
To help provide information to our customers, we also had dedicated lines for media to call and obtain updated ferry reports, as we did not yet have the internet. Customers would tune in on their radios for the latest updates.
34 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE