A small ferry at the twharf on a remote island
Communications

BC Ferries provides WiFi Access at Whaletown and Heriot Bay terminals

BC Ferries has announced that, thanks to $1.5 million in funding from provincial government grant, they have been able to provide WiFi in an additinal 14 small terminals. Whaletown and Heriot Bay are among them. 

Daniel McIntosh, Communications manager with BC Ferries explained, “Now they will be able to access WiFI at the terminal. Previously they would have had to either pick up a signal from somewhere or use the roaming feature. So now when folks are waiting at the terminal, they should be able to access WiFi at that terminal free of charge.”

Daniel McIntosh, Communications Officer, BC Ferries – submitted photo

McIntosh pointed out that the provincial government put in $1.5 of the $1.7 million used in this project. 

“Prior to this program, you really could only get access to WiFi at some of the larger centres. A lot of the smaller communities would go to their terminals, there would be no WiFi access and then you kind of lose that connection either with friends, family, but also business as well too,” he said.

“We know that obviously WiFi is a service that many customers and quite frankly our staff, as well, are appreciative to be able to access in our culture. It’s become the standard that you can walk around and access WiFi at business sites and coffee shops, places where you hang out. It’s a gathering point. So this is a real good service that we can offer and we’re happy that we can bring it.” 

“Sometimes the logistics of offering this kind of service can be tricky. Obviously we know that when we live in some remote areas, and it’s not always easy to get this stuff going. Thankfully through this partnership with the province of British Columbia, we have been able to bring WiFi to 14 different terminals and we hope that our customers and our staff can enjoy it.”

The Tachek, serving on the Cortes to Quadra route, is BC Ferries’ first hybrid ferry. It has conventional diesel engines and a 200 kW-hr battery bank – Photo courtesy BC Ferries

The installations were finished on July 28, but only announced today. This brings the total number of terminals with free Wi-Fi access to 21.

BC Ferries does not ask for credit card details or personal information to use Wi-Fi networks at terminals or on board vessels.

Top image credit: Looking out at the ferry, in the Whaletown terminal – Photo by Roy L Hales

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