Anyone driving a commercial truck, bus, oversize camper or towing a boat trailer departing from the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal will now have their vehicles automatically scanned and measured before they get to the toll booth.
The move is part of a pilot project that starts Wednesday (Feb. 4) at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal and runs six months, until the end of July.
A new scanner — which uses radar and laser sensors — will automatically measure vehicle length, height and ground clearance and provide an electronic display to ticket agents of vehicles over 20 feet in length.
The scanner will be placed to measure vehicles on the approach to the commercial ticket booth between lanes 1 and 2 at the terminal.
The pilot project is intended to speed up the process of ticketing for plus-size vehicles and trailers. It is also meant to ensure consistent measurements and fares for those vehicles, according to B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall.
Currently, ticket agents either rely on the driver’s word about their vehicle length or get out of their booths to manually measure the vehicles.
Marshall said there has been some suggestion in the past that some over-length vehicles may have been under-measured or reported and therefore under-charged. The ferry corporation is hoping the scanners will result in an increase in revenue, as well as faster service. Marshall refused to divulge the cost of the scanner, describing it as “commercially sensitive.”
If the pilot project works as anticipated, the ferry corporation will look to installing the measuring scanners at all of its terminals serving major ferry routes, said Marshall.
Marshall added the ferry corporation has no plans to start charging vehicles under 20 feet in length by measurement.
According to the ferry corporation, the scanners have been CSA approved as safe for people.
Marshall said if any driver has strong objections to the scanner, they can choose to go through a different toll booth and be manually measured.
