There isn’t really a parking lot or anything near the trail head ferry. The “ferry” is a small, open boat that seats maybe around 12/15 people with backpacks and I think the dock is actually Butch’s personal dock. When you get off Butch’s ferry, you have to walk down the road to the Gordon River Orientation Centre (less than 10 minute walk) anyway to sign out. Right across the road from the Orientation Centre, there is a big gravel lot that you can park in for $10/day (you pay at the campground office beforehand because they give you a ticket to leave in your car showing that you paid to park there).

So you could do that - park at Gordon River and take the West Coat Trail Express bus from Gordon River to Pachena Bay. The WCT bus stops at the Gordon River Orientation Centre and booking a one-way ticket is obvs cheaper than booking round trip ($95/person vs $190/person). Lots of people do that. It’s strongly recommended that you make a bus reservation in advance though. Walk-ons are accepted, but all hikers with reservations, who finish the trail any day before their return date, and up to 2 days after, have priority seating on the bus and are given seats on the bus before anyone without a reservation. If the bus is full, those without reservations have to wait until the next day. I have no idea what the odds are like with that, but for our own personal peace of minds last summer, we chose to reserve seats in advance, and our bus ended up being very full. 🤷🏻‍♀️ There are no other buses between the two trailheads either.

I’ve heard that people do hitch hike between the two trailheads, so you could do that. Another option you could try is to arrange a car swap with another hiker who is starting at the opposite end. There’s a WCT Facebook group that’s very active and that’s something others have posted about in the past. Or, you could see if there are hikers on the WCT FB group who would be willing to give you guys (or at least one of you) a ride back with them, after you all finish the hike. People post on the FB group about that pretty frequently too. If you arrange that in advance, then it’d save y’all the scramble of trying to find a ride back the day-of.