BC Ferries

British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. or BC Ferries (abbr. BCF) is a de facto Crown Corporation that provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Set up in 1960 to provide a similar service to that provided by the Black Ball Line and the Canadian Pacific Railway, which were affected by job action at the time, BC Ferries has become the largest passenger ferry line in North America and the second largest in the world, boasting a fleet of 36 vessels with a total passenger and crew capacity of over 27,000, serving 49 locations on the B.C. coast.

As BC Ferries provides an essential link from mainland Canada to the various islands on its routes, it is subsidized by the Government of British Columbia ($151 m in fiscal 2011) and the Government of Canada ($27 m in fiscal 2011) The inland ferries operating on British Columbia's rivers and lakes are not run by BC Ferries. The responsibility for their provision rests with the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation, which contracts operation to various private sector companies.