John H
Voyager
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 2,919
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Post by John H on Jul 25, 2018 18:33:25 GMT -8
Did they hire a new person to fill in the "Status" column of the "Departures" section of the Current Conditions Page:
Here are a few of the reasons for delays tonight:
"We are loading and unloading multiple ships"
"We are loading as many vehicles as possible"
"Helping customers who need assistance boarding"
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Post by futureferrydriver on Oct 3, 2018 22:00:47 GMT -8
My dad (who I supposed at some point or another in the past has emailed BC Ferries regarding there website) got an email today from their customer relations department regarding the long anticipated new website:
“Good afternoon,
We want to know what you think. Can you help us?
Your opinion is important to us and it will help shape the future of our website.
In the past, you have contacted us about our website, and based on feedback from customers like you, we’re in the process of redesigning our website.
Select one or more of the topics below to anonymously answer a series of short questions to share your thoughts:
1. Homepage – fresh look and feel
2. Current Conditions – new way to display info
3. Schedules – improved with real-time data
It won’t take long, it’s completely anonymous, and all feedback is welcome.
We’re excited to hear what you think so we can use your valuable feedback to build a better website for everyone.
Thank you for your time and help.
Regards,
BC Ferries”
I went through one of the 3 surveys and it looks like most of the details of the new webpage have been decided and they were asking for feedback on the new version. (Basically the survey was like a mini beta test).
Initial impressions are that functionally there doesn’t seem to be much difference between new and old, however the new version has a more modern look and feel, and is a bit more intuative for finding info etc.
Unfortunately still no mention of a proper mobile site, which is something I think should be prioritized over updating a website that works just fine the way it is... oh well, maybe one day!
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WettCoast
Voyager
Posts: 7,480
Member is Online
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Post by WettCoast on Oct 28, 2018 19:15:33 GMT -8
From the BCFS website Departures page ...
Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay
Sailing time: 1 hour 40 minutes Sunday, October 28, 2018
Vessel Scheduled Departure Actual Departure ETA or Arrival Time Status
Queen of Cowichan 6:15 AM 6:17 AM ... On Time Queen of Oak Bay 8:25 AM 8:25 AM 10:16 AM On Time Queen of Cowichan 10:40 AM 10:41 AM 12:22 PM On Time Queen of Oak Bay 1:00 PM 1:09 PM 3:02 PM Mechanical difficulties with vessel Queen of Cowichan 3:20 PM 3:27 PM 5:10 PM On Time Queen of Oak Bay 5:55 PM 6:06 PM ETA: 7:46 PM We are loading and unloading multiple shipsQueen of Surrey 8:45 PM Queen of Oak Bay 10:10 PM
I assume that that item I highlighted in red is a mistake. How can it be that they would be dealing with loading & unloading multiple ships at a single route terminal?
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Post by avgeekjoe on Nov 24, 2018 22:39:24 GMT -8
Not sure if this is appropriate here, but being I use public transportation to get around... sure wish BC Ferries schedules were put into the transit section of Google Maps. But that's me.
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lohium
Oiler (New Member)
Posts: 18
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Post by lohium on Nov 26, 2018 14:33:22 GMT -8
Not sure if this is appropriate here, but being I use public transportation to get around... sure wish BC Ferries schedules were put into the transit section of Google Maps. But that's me. You mean you don't like having two Google Maps tabs open and the ferry schedule open in another tab?
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Post by avgeekjoe on Nov 27, 2018 11:43:40 GMT -8
Not sure if this is appropriate here, but being I use public transportation to get around... sure wish BC Ferries schedules were put into the transit section of Google Maps. But that's me. You mean you don't like having two Google Maps tabs open and the ferry schedule open in another tab? Exactly. I think BC Ferries services should be 100% integrated.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,177
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Post by Neil on Jul 31, 2020 15:50:43 GMT -8
I wonder what's attacked the BC Ferries website. On perhaps the busiest weekend of the year, it's been down all day...
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jul 31, 2020 16:42:21 GMT -8
I wonder what's attacked the BC Ferries website. On perhaps the busiest weekend of the year, it's been down all day... Maybe cyber terrorism or hackers.
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Post by avgeekjoe on Jul 31, 2020 17:08:41 GMT -8
A long time ago, I complained about BC Ferries not being on Google Maps. Happy to report for some time BC Ferries now is.
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Post by Charles on Jul 31, 2020 17:11:24 GMT -8
I wonder what's attacked the BC Ferries website. On perhaps the busiest weekend of the year, it's been down all day... Maybe cyber terrorism or hackers. I’d bet on an unprecedented amount of traffic all at one time. People who need to check how full their boat is or people who are late and seeing if they can still make their ferry 😉
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Jul 31, 2020 17:11:51 GMT -8
A long time ago, I complained about BC Ferries not being on Google Maps. Happy to report for some time BC Ferries now is. They joined it sometime last year.
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Aug 1, 2020 14:20:26 GMT -8
This such a great weekend to have website problems.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Sept 22, 2020 7:42:51 GMT -8
The new website for BC Ferries is now live. I haven't had time to look at it fully yet, but here it is H E R E PS: The ferry fans are at the bottom of the main page. Scott made the main page, but Curtis is relegated to the "Meet More" link.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Sept 22, 2020 9:03:20 GMT -8
The new website for BC Ferries is now live. I haven't had time to look at it fully yet, but here it is H E R E PS: The ferry fans are at the bottom of the main page. Scott made the main page, but Curtis is relegated to the "Meet More" link. My 2 items of feedback on the new website: 1) The cover photo looks over-exposed to me. 2) I used to use the Reservations page to easily see when an upcoming sailing day was fully-reserved. I can't see that easily anymore. For example, if my spouse was going to be travelling to Westview next week on a Friday, I'd be looking at this week's reservation page for this Friday to see when and if the reservations would sell-out, to give me an idea of whether I need to book a reservation for her next week trip (you know, based on the prior week's actual experience). I can't do that anymore. ...but I'm hopeful that I'm just not finding the right option to look at, and that someone will understand what I'm trying to say, and point me to the right page.
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Post by Mike C on Sept 22, 2020 9:51:22 GMT -8
The new website for BC Ferries is now live. I haven't had time to look at it fully yet, but here it is H E R E PS: The ferry fans are at the bottom of the main page. Scott made the main page, but Curtis is relegated to the "Meet More" link. My 2 items of feedback on the new website: 1) The cover photo looks over-exposed to me. 2) I used to use the Reservations page to easily see when an upcoming sailing day was fully-reserved. I can't see that easily anymore. For example, if my spouse was going to be travelling to Westview next week on a Friday, I'd be looking at this week's reservation page for this Friday to see when and if the reservations would sell-out, to give me an idea of whether I need to book a reservation for her next week trip (you know, based on the prior week's actual experience). I can't do that anymore. ...but I'm hopeful that I'm just not finding the right option to look at, and that someone will understand what I'm trying to say, and point me to the right page. It displays a bit differently now. Sailings that are fully booked for reservations now display a “Not Available Online” message in red text and the button to “view fares” to book disappears. It would be nice to see it display the percentage of available reservation space that has been spoken for.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Sept 22, 2020 10:12:11 GMT -8
Here is a video of Astrid explaining the new website, with some cameos by Scott and Curtis:
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Post by Low Light Mike on Sept 22, 2020 10:52:09 GMT -8
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dave2
Chief Steward
Deckhand!: Todo: Introduction post (I was born less than 100 feet from the ocean. The tide was...)
Posts: 155
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Post by dave2 on Sept 22, 2020 14:12:13 GMT -8
The new website for BC Ferries is now live. I haven't had time to look at it fully yet, but here it is H E R E PS: The ferry fans are at the bottom of the main page. Scott made the main page, but Curtis is relegated to the "Meet More" link. Two things I don't like about the (whatever it's called) page. Scheduled Departures and Actual Departures are combined into one column. More importantly (to the ferry fan at least) the names of the vessels have been eliminated. EDIT, ok, I found the names, you have to click the "details" arrow, and that only works for future departures. Still, it's a pain to click all those arrows.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Sept 22, 2020 15:28:34 GMT -8
It displays a bit differently now. Sailings that are fully booked for reservations now display a “Not Available Online” message in red text and the button to “view fares” to book disappears. It would be nice to see it display the percentage of available reservation space that has been spoken for. Thanks. It took me a while to find a future-date sailing that is already fully booked, to see for myself. For today's sailings, I wasn't sure if the red-text sailings were just because the time was too close to sailing-time, or if it was fully booked. Looking at a Route-9 Gulf Island departure on Thanksgiving Monday showed me what a fully sold-out day looks like. (I can depend on a Holiday Monday departure from Mayne Island to be sold out).
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Sept 22, 2020 17:18:55 GMT -8
My positive opinions about the new website: 1. Schedules are better to understand for daily route schedule. 2. It better for current conditions. 3. Maps for service region.
My negative opinions about the new website. 1. Why is each route from terminal on different schedule page. They could cluster schedules on certain routes. 2. Could make experience card information more easier to find. 3. Also some vessel routes lead to different schedule pages.
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Post by Charles on Sept 22, 2020 19:55:25 GMT -8
I was just looking through the new “Our Fleet” section and I found it funny that they put that the Coastal Celebration only has 2144 horsepower, just a tad bit off there .
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,177
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Post by Neil on Sept 22, 2020 20:13:09 GMT -8
Still finding my way around this new layout, and until I get familiar with it, probably not appropriate to offer a general verdict.
Disappointing, from a niggling pet peeve point of view, that they've gone back to talking about 'safely loading' vehicles in their service notices. They also have added something really dumb; a full list of possible reservation options to scroll through, including all the routes that you can't reserve.
One real improvement: you can go to a given date and get the schedule for that route... no asterisks or exceptions. WSF has had this for a long time.
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Post by paulvanb on Sept 22, 2020 22:36:15 GMT -8
I think they might want to update some of their fleet photos, especially the Queen of Capilano. I'm sure some of our membership would be willing to give them a hand.
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Post by avgeekjoe on Sept 22, 2020 23:41:58 GMT -8
I like the new refreshed BCFerries.com. But it would sure be nice if we knew what vessel was schedule for each sailing... me personally I still want to ride a Spirit!
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Nick
Voyager
Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078
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Post by Nick on Sept 23, 2020 11:43:10 GMT -8
I just noticed that the emailed service notices now have the entire service notice in the body of the email, rather than just a link. I like this change because it serves as an archive of past events, whereas before you just got a page saying that the service notice had expired.
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