Hullo Ferries marks second anniversary with 40% ridership growth, high reliability
The service is also considered a seamless and accessible transportation option for seniors, as well as for hybrid or remote office workers who live in or near Nanaimo but commute to offices in downtown Vancouver. The travel time each way is roughly 70 minutes.
Hullo Ferries is tapping into both revealed demand — existing trips shifted from BC Ferries, Harbour Air, and Helijet to its competitively fast, convenient, and mid-tier priced service — and latent demand, meaning new trips that previously were not made due to time, cost, logistical barriers, and/or the poor reliability of long-established existing services. This includes making spontaneous, last-minute trips more feasible, as well as greatly improving the viability of same-day return travel by using their services.
“Every day, we see how we’re helping people see family and friends more often and have new adventures,” said Sekhar Angepat, Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Hullo Ferries, in a statement. “Our goal wasn’t to simply redistribute travellers from traditional services, but to grow the entire travel market. By creating new possibilities like same-day event trips, we’re enabling journeys that people simply weren’t making before. The stories we hear from our passengers confirm we’re on the right track.”
Ryan Dermody, the Interim CEO of Hullo Ferries, added, “The stories we hear from our passengers are the true measure of our success. When we hear about a grandmother being able to take her grandkids to the aquarium for a quick day trip, or professionals redefining their work week, we know we’re making a real difference in people’s lives every day. We’re incredibly proud of the role we play in connecting communities and are more committed than ever to improving and expanding our service.”
A full Hullo Ferries sailing disembarking in downtown Vancouver early this evening. pic.twitter.com/NO2iOEulY9
— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) August 5, 2025
Hullo Ferries operates multiple round-trips daily throughout the year — generally up to six round-trip sailings per day during the summer season, and generally up to three or four round-trip sailings per day in the late fall, winter, and early spring periods.
To give Vancouver Island residents a more affordable and time-saving way to attend events in Vancouver (eliminating the need for the added high cost of an overnight hotel stay to return home the next day), the service also schedules or shifts some evening sailings to align with post-event departure times later in the night. This has included Vancouver Canucks, BC Lions, and Vancouver Whitecaps games, major public events such as the Honda Celebration of Light fireworks, and numerous concerts, including multiple extra late-night sailings for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour dates.
So far in its operational history, Hullo Ferries has performed over 170 late-night event sailings, with some of these sailings departing as late as after midnight to accommodate event schedules and the time it can take for event goers to travel from the stadiums to the downtown Vancouver ferry terminal outside Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building.
By introducing same-day return options for concerts, sports games, and other events, as well as improving connections to public transit and Vancouver International Airport, Hullo Ferries has unlocked new travel patterns that expand the overall market, rather than simply competing for existing riders on other services.
This dual impact is helping the service grow the total volume of travel between Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver, while also providing a better experience for established users.
Hullo Ferries’ Nanaimo terminal is located at the Nanaimo Port Authority facility just south of downtown. The terminal is about a 15-minute walk from Nanaimo’s city centre, but a free Hullo Ferries shuttle bus connects passengers to key downtown points of interest. BC Transit also provides limited service directly to the terminal, which is supported by a large pay parking lot for park-and-ride users. Additional options at the terminal include car share and bike share services and passenger pick-up/drop-off spaces for friends, families, taxis, and ride-hailing. Uber recently expanded to Nanaimo as part of its province-wide ride-hailing service rollout, further improving last-mile connectivity.
Hullo Ferries also has medium/longer-term plans to acquire more vessels to not only improve its Nanaimo service, but introduce a second route between downtown Vancouver and Victoria.
Currently, it operates two passenger-only catamaran vessels — each with 350 seats, travelling at speeds of up to 40 knots (74 km/h) when in open water in the Strait of Georgia.
Hullo Ferries’ Nanaimo terminal. (Hullo Ferries)
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