BC Ferries is implementing a new way to check in reservations at both Langdale and Horseshoe Bay terminals, the company announced on July 12.
Handheld devices called mobile point of sale will be used at peak times to help staff speed up the check-in process at the terminals by redeeming reservations, BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall told Coast Reporter.
Langdale terminal will remain a non-ticketed terminal. On the Horseshoe Bay side, the mobile point of sale could accept payment via credit card.
BC Ferries ran a trial of the mobile point of sale at the Langdale terminal over the past 10 days, Marshall said, and they will come into effect at any time.
The devices may not be necessary when there is not much traffic, and customers will then be processed through the booths as usual, a July 12 press release states.
“There are occasions at the major terminals where booth throughput is unable to meet the demand of arriving traffic causing traffic to back up beyond the pre-ticketing areas. The mobile point of sale will provide terminal staff an additional option to check-in customers, which will speed up the check-in process overall,” the press release said.
Diana Mumford, the chair of the Southern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee, told Coast Reporter she hopes most of BC Ferries’ focus with the mobile point of sale will be on the Horseshoe Bay side of Route 3.
“I appreciate that they are looking at ways to improve service and get people through the tollbooth quicker, but for our route Horseshoe Bay is a much bigger problem than Langdale,” Mumford said, adding that’s where the traffic “crunch” is.
The implementation at Horseshoe Bay terminal will be later this summer, along with Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.
Mobile point of sale is already used at three BC Ferries terminals: at Heriot Bay on Quadra Island, Gravelly Bay on Denman Island and Lyall Harbour on Saturna Island.
