British ColumbiaAli Watson, a director of the Sicamous Ferry Society, said hundreds of people have already made the trip across the Sicamous Channel on the new ferry.Sicamous Ferry Society director says ‘people are coming from all over B.C.’ to take new ferryCBC News · Posted: Aug 11, 2025 10:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours agoThe Sicamous ferry is operated by the Sicamous Ferry Society. The ride is free thanks to the advertising on board. (Sicamous Ferry Society)A new ferry service in B.C.’s Shuswap region has been an “overwhelming success” since it launched last month, according to the society that runs it. On July 2, the Sicamous Ferry started taking people across the Sicamous channel from the community to the Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail daily, for free. True to its location in the Houseboat Capital of Canada, the ferry looks like an old houseboat with the top taken off. It’s a 13-metre barge complete with benches, bike racks and life preservers. Ali Watson, director of the Sicamous Ferry Society, said hundreds of people have already made the trip. She estimates up to 200 people each day.”People are coming from all over B.C. [to take the ferry],” she told CBC’s Daybreak South. “Our email box is blowing up with people — they’ve seen it on the news, and they’ve heard about it, and they’re really excited to get to Sicamous and be a part of it.”The ferry was established to get people across the Sicamous Channel to the Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail, where they can walk or ride their bikes. (Sicamous Ferry Society)While the ferry can only take 11 people at a time, the boat takes just minutes to get from stop to stop; it runs on a continuous loop from the Martin Street Boat Launch to Sicamous Beach Park, to the rail trail and back, taking about 20 minutes total. “Our captains are super busy, but running back and forth is only … a few minutes, so you don’t have to wait too long,” Watson said.The ferry was launched to give people another way to access the rail trail while the R. W. Bruhn Bridge on Highway 1 is under construction. Watson said the construction was causing “a bit of a headache” trying to get people to the trail, which is meant to be both a tourist attraction and an activity for locals. The trail will be, when its own construction is complete, 50 kilometres of non-motorized greenway for cycling and walking, along an old rail corridor between Sicamous and Armstrong. It’s been in the works since 2015.”We know from the Okanagan Rail Trail that it’s definitely something that makes people want to travel and visit,” she said. “We just knew that we were going to have to find a way to get them over there safely.”The ferry is free for riders, and it’s funded strictly by advertising on board, Watson said. Some ferry riders have offered donations, which Watson said the ferry operators have been happy to accept. It runs daily from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. local time now through until mid-September. Watson said she expects the service to be available for “many, many years.””It is a nicer way to get to the rail trail,” she said. With files from Daybreak South
New Sicamous, B.C., ferry a big hit shuttling people across channel to ride the rail trail
