A Langford techie has created an innovative solution for those struggling to find ferry reservations.
The website, NextSailing.ca, sends real-time notifications when BC Ferries reservations become available, offering a much-needed service for passengers seeking last-minute spots on fully booked sailings.
Vedran Budimcic, a professional software developer since 2011, was inspired to build the tool after his wife experienced difficulties trying to secure a reservation on a sold-out BC Ferries route from Vancouver to Victoria.
“She was refreshing the BC Ferries website for a week with no luck,” Budimcic recalls.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to check as often as needed, so I built a quick prototype that sent a text when a reservation became available.”
After that initial success, Budimcic recognized that others could benefit from this service.
“My wife came up with the fantastic name, NextSailing.ca, and I spent about 30 hours turning the prototype into a fully functional tool,” he says.
The website launched on September 26th, and the response was overwhelmingly positive, with hundreds of users subscribing to receive notifications within days.
NextSailing.ca is simple to use. Passengers visit the website, select their departure and arrival terminals, and choose the date they wish to travel. The site then displays the current reservation status for all sailings on that day. If a sailing is sold out, users can click the “Notify Me” button and enter their phone number to receive a text alert if a spot becomes available.
Behind the scenes, the system regularly checks BC Ferries’ reservation status and uses Twilio, an automated messaging service, to send SMS notifications to users when their selected sailing opens up.
Since its launch, NextSailing.ca has drawn considerable attention online. Budimcic’s post on Reddit and in the Unused Reservations Facebook Group sparked widespread interest, with more than 2,000 visitors to the site and over 300 users subscribing to receive text notifications.
To date, 130 users have received alerts about available sailings, helping them secure last-minute reservations.
For now, the service is free to use, with Budimcic covering the costs, which include $30 per month for infrastructure and a fee of less than a cent per SMS message sent.
Though he has added a “Buy me a coffee” donation link for users who wish to support the service, donations are entirely optional.
While NextSailing.ca is currently a website-only tool, Budimcic has no immediate plans to expand it into a mobile app or to collaborate with BC Ferries. However, he mentioned a potential future enhancement allowing users to specify they are reserving for oversized vehicles.
Although BC Ferries has not reached out directly to Budimcic, they acknowledged the tool in an interview with Global News, stating they are aware of NextSailing.ca and continue to improve their own services.
Budimcic, meanwhile, is content with his website’s success, adding, “This is just a small hobby project, and I understand why BC Ferries hasn’t built something similar themselves. They have countless priorities, and this is more of a nice-to-have.”
For BC Ferries passengers struggling to find a reservation, NextSailing.ca is providing a lifeline—one text message at a time.
