Every sailing, one system.

Overview

The ferry is how Lax Kw’alaams stays connected to the mainland.

Residents, visitors, businesses, and essential services all depend on it. Managing reservations, vessel capacity, passenger information, and daily operations needed a solution as reliable as the service itself.

Burst partnered with the Lax Kw’alaams Band to research, design, and develop Version 1 of a custom Ferry Booking Platform, a Software-as-a-Service solution built from the ground up around how this ferry service actually runs. It is not an adapted off-the-shelf system; it is a platform shaped by the workflows of the service and the people who rely on it every day.

The Challenge

Reliability isn’t optional.

The ferry supports residents, visitors, businesses, and essential services, but the booking process ran on manual coordination.

Manual coordination made it difficult to manage passenger and vehicle reservations efficiently, monitor vessel and vehicle capacity in real time, or coordinate between the front office and deck crew. Notifying passengers of schedule changes and booking confirmations was slow, and improving the customer experience meant reducing administrative work, not adding to it.

The goal was a platform that serves everyone involved: office staff managing bookings, deck handlers loading vessels, and passengers planning their travel.

Strategy

It began with listening.

Over the course of the project, Burst engaged the people behind every stage of the ferry operation.

Interviews and collaborative workshops brought in Chief and Council, ferry administration, front desk staff, deck handlers, ferry customers, community Elders, and operational staff.

These conversations surfaced operational challenges, customer expectations, communication gaps, and opportunities to modernize the entire booking experience.

No workflow was designed on assumptions; every one was informed by the people who use the ferry every day.

User Journeys

A journey for every user.

With a clear picture of the operation, Burst mapped complete user journeys for every audience.

Each journey was designed around simplicity, speed, and ease of use, from passengers making reservations and administrative staff managing bookings to the front desk, deck handlers monitoring vessel capacity, and operational reporting and scheduling.

Information architecture, interface design, and navigation were planned to remove unnecessary steps and improve efficiency across the whole operation.

The Platform

One connected system.

Burst designed a custom SaaS ferry management platform that supports customer bookings and internal operations in a single digital ecosystem.

The platform handles online passenger reservations and vehicle bookings with real-time vessel and vehicle capacity tracking. An administrative dashboard, a dedicated deck-handler interface, and passenger manifest management keep operations connected, while SMS confirmations and travel notifications keep passengers informed. Reservation management tools, a mobile-responsive experience, and dedicated mobile apps available through both the App Store and Google Play Store round it out, all on a secure, cloud-based platform.

By connecting office staff and ferry operations in one centralized system, the platform improves communication and gives the team real visibility into daily operations.

Creative

Designed for real conditions.

The interface supports users with every level of digital experience, and it stays simple in the fast-paced reality of ferry operations.

Fast booking workflows, simple navigation, and mobile-first accessibility; clear operational dashboards and efficient administrative tools meet in one consistent experience across devices.

The Impact

The digital foundation for modern ferry operations.

The community gained a modern online booking experience and improved operational efficiency, with better coordination between office staff and deck handlers.

Real-time visibility into vessel and vehicle capacity, faster customer communication through SMS notifications, and less reliance on manual processes, all on a scalable, cloud-based platform built for long-term growth.

Project Team

Delivered by a collaborative team.

In Closing

Better journeys.

The Lax Kw’alaams Ferry Booking Platform shows what research, collaboration, and user-centred design can do for an essential community service: a better travel experience for passengers, and better tools for the people who keep the service running every day.