January 2023 —Carus and Vancouver Island Ferry Company announce their cooperation on setting up reservations and ticketing for the new passenger ferry service between downtown Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Ticket sales will be available on the web, in a consumer App, and in self-service kiosks in the port terminals.

The new passenger ferry services between downtown Vancouver and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island will speed up the crossing to just over an hour, which will be much appreciated by both the islanders and the city. It will enable passengers to commute, as well as go shopping, and visiting friends and family much smoother than today.

“Carus has proven that they can support this type of business, which provides services for both frequently travelling locals as well as visitors, providing the relevant functionality for all types of passengers”, says Alastair Caddick, CEO of Vancouver Island Ferry Company.

With customers operating similar passenger fast ferries in the UK, Malta, Tanzania, Massachusetts, as well as in Florida, Carus has extensive experience in providing software that is easy to use and which supports the specifics of this type of operation.

“We are very lucky to have such a loyal and supportive client base, who guides us in how their operational needs are best supported in all the types of ferry services that we work with. This helps us to have the right solution available for a start-up like this”, says John Bertell, Director of Sales at Carus.

Carus will provide its off-the-shelf back-office solution, ticket validation module and the standard web, App and self-service Kiosk software, as well as comprehensive RESTful APIs to Vancouver Island Ferry Company to support their sales and operations. Carus also provides the Kiosk and handheld scanner hardware for this project.

A new cloud-based Managed Service in Canada will be set up for this service, preparing Carus for expansion on the Canadian market.

About Vancouver Island Ferry Company

Backed by Toronto-based private equity firm Conqora Capital Partners and a team of investors, two new 350 passenger catamarans will service the route between downtown Vancouver and Nanaimo in an estimated 70 minutes. The vessels will be running between the Nanaimo cruise-ship dock and the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre at the base of Thurlow St.

About Carus

The Carus team consists of 150 experienced and knowledgeable industry professionals employed across the world. Our focus is to enable our clients to give their customers the best possible experience, not only onboard but also in the port.

Carus is thoroughly focused on the passenger and freight shipping industry, providing advanced reservation, ticketing and port automation solutions that are evolving constantly to meet the ever-changing operational demands of our clients.

Our clients include operators throughout the Baltic, Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, Africa and Australia. Carus’ clients cover every aspect of the passenger vessel industry and operate virtually every type of vessel, proving the versatility and flexibility of CarRes.

Carus’ systems are secure, tried and tested and proved, providing the 24/7 reliability required of mission critical applications, especially when delivered via our managed services.