A plan by BC Ferries to offer discounts to customers who book online would not penalize customers who have no access to the Internet, manager of media relations Deborah Marshall said Tuesday.
“There is a caveat,” Marshall said. “If customers want to contact us and book their reservations by phone, they would get the discount. We realize that not everyone is online.”
The ferry corporation announced last week that it had submitted a plan to BC ferry commissioner Gord Macatee to modernize its outdated information technology platforms and shift to an online booking system similar to airlines and hotels.
The benefit to passengers would be reduced waiting times and the opportunity for discounted fares at off-peak travel times.
Dubbed the Fare Flexibility and Digital Experience Initiative, the program would be given a test-run on the Vancouver-to-Vancouver Island routes in 2017. Marshall said Route 3 between Horseshoe Bay and Langdale “would follow shortly after.”
The program would reverse the current reservation system that costs customers between $15 and $22 per trip.
“If you were to book in advance, you could receive a discount,” Marshall said. “But if you just do the show-and-go, it would be the regular price.”
While reservations currently provide less than two per cent of BC Ferries’ annual revenues, the company estimates advance bookings could account for 70 per cent of revenues from major routes.
“BC Ferries has heard from our customers that they want more flexibility in how they book travel in the future, more certainty at the terminal that they will be able to board the sailing they want, and more opportunities for discounted fares,” BC Ferries president and CEO Mike Corrigan said in a statement.
The goal of the program, Corrigan said, is to incrementally increase traffic while “keeping fares lower than they would be under the current business model.”
Marshall said discounts would be greater for customers who book further in advance, but the company is not far enough along in the planning process to predict how much the discounts would be worth.
The public has until the end of December to comment on the plan, which is estimated to cost between $10 and $15 million. See www.bcferrycommission.com for more information.
Macatee’s decision on the proposal is expected in early February.
