Travelling over the B.C. Day long weekend? Here’s what you should know

The highways, borders, ferries, parks and public places across B.C. figure to be bursting at the seams as B.C. long weekend gets underway.

B.C. Ferries has been infamously plagued by breakdowns, staff shortages and other operational issues for months, but the company insists all its vessels are back in action and it’s doing its best to accommodate travellers this weekend.

Nonetheless, this is historically the busiest weekend of the year for the ferry service, with 580,000 passengers and 210,000 vehicles expected. So reservations are highly recommended. The website has also experienced glitches through the summer, but customer service staffing has been beefed up for this busy stretch and there is now a virtual waiting room to avoid site crashes.

B.C. Ferries says all the major routes figure to be busy, but especially sailings to Vancouver Island Thursday and Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, and Monday and Tuesday morning heading back to the Lower Mainland. Choosing travel times outside those slots is encouraged if possible.

As of late Thursday afternoon, the ferries were reporting no sailing waits, though parking was already limited at some terminals.