  british columbia ferry services inc., or bc ferries (abbreviated bcf) is an independently managed, publicly owned company that provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the canadian province of british columbia. set up in 1960 to provide a similar service to that provided by the black ball line and the canadian pacific railway, which were affected by job action at the time, bc ferries has become the largest passenger ferry line in north america and the second largest in the world, boasting a fleet of 36 vessels with a total passenger and crew capacity of over 27,000, serving 49 locations on the bc coast. as bc ferries provides an essential link from mainland british columbia to the various islands on its routes, it is subsidized by the government of british columbia ($151 million in the 2011 fiscal year) and the government of canada ($27 million in the 2011 fiscal year).bcf annual report 2011. (pdf) . retrieved june 25, 2012. the inland ferries operating on british columbia's rivers and lakes are not run by bc ferries. the responsibility for their provision rests with the british columbia ministry of transportation, which contracts operation to various private sector companies. ==history== in the late 1950s, a strike by employees of the black ball line caused the [[british columbia social credit pa
1960_establishments_in_British_Columbia BC_Ferries Coast_of_British_Columbia Companies_based_in_Victoria,_British_Columbia Companies_established_in_1960 Crown_corporations_of_British_Columbia Transport_in_Greater_Vancouver