B.C. Ferries Washington State Ferries Comparison

[Political Incorrectness]

If you would compare WSF to BCF I have to admite B.C. Ferries is better than WSF because

1. They are independant (B.C. Ferries)
2. BCF charges both ways making revenue
3.More services
4. Annual maintnence is longer for more reliable vessels
Bad things

1. When the Queen of Surrey fire happened they had to impact schedules
2. Do not have enough vessels to support when acidents happen.
WSF is a different story

1. Enough vessels to support acidents

Bad things

1. Maintnence is 4 days leading to alot of mccanicle problems.
2. Switch of vessels
3.Not improving routes
4. Not Independant

This is all true some of it is opinion but I don't care B.C. Ferries is better than WSF

[John]

If you compare some of the features of the two websites, I'd say that WSF has some nicer ones. I especially like the live ferry-cams and the ferry watch (find out where the ferries are at any given time).

BC Ferries has pictures of all their ferries, but WSF has more info and larger pictures (although they're not photos).

The WSF website is very complicated however, while the BC Ferries one is quite easy to navigate and simple to use.

It's pretty cool to be able to live so close to two of the largest ferry systems in the world and probably among the nicest looking ferries in the world.

[John]

Unfortunately, I never remember ever being on a Washington State Ferry. Perhaps someone who knows more about them could answer a couple questions I have.

Do the larger WSF ferries have cafeterias?

I was just looking at some of their specs and was surprised to see how many passengers they can hold. The largest, Jumbo Mark II class can carry 2500 passengers, more than the Spirit vessels. However they can only hold 218 cars (about 20 more than the Queen of Nanaimo). Is there any reason for the difference in the passenger/vehicle ratio for BCF and WSF? Even with smaller passenger capacities, BCF rarely (I think) runs out of room for passengers.

One thing I prefer about BC Ferries is the variety of ships. WSF ships are basically bigger versions of each other, although they do look quite nice.

[Political Incorrectness]

I think it is because of how many ammenities that the WSF vessels have more passenger capacity than the B.C. Ferries. All ferries bigger than the Rhodedendrem have caffeterias. I also like the WSF website but I like the ferrycams to and ferrywatch.

[ferryfreak]

almost all of the washington ferries look the same