Are we caught between a dock and a hard spot?
— by Lin McNulty, Orcas Issues Managing Editor —
What if you’re not sure when you need that return ferry from the mainland because you don’t know how long that doctor appointment might take, especially if they want to do labs or imaging? After a long day on the mainland, the most important thing in the world just might be getting on that ferry to go home.
It seems some islanders have figured out how to make sure there is space on a future ferry at just the right time, even though they may not know when that right time might be.
Without promoting (although we may reveal) the method used by many (if not all) to ensure there is a reservation at that exact moment you need it, let’s just say that worst case scenario is that you will pay a $10 no-show penalty for the reservation that you made and didn’t use. That seems to be an acceptable risk for some (many?) if you happen to miss your assigned sailing.
System-wide, no-shows on reservation routes have more than doubled from 23,925 in 2015 to 64,595 in 2018, while the Orcas sailings top the system-wide chart at 9.2% of our reservations, or an average of 33.3 no-shows per day for all Orcas sailings.
The Washington State Transportation Commission, however, is currently considering an increase to the no-show fee to serve as both a deterrent to the practice and benefit customers by making more reservations available for those who intend to use them. The proposed increase for missing a reservation is slated to be $18, up from the current $10. The State currently collects nearly $700,000 per year from no-show fees.
You can learn more about the proposal and share your feedback with the Commission directly at https://ferryfarecomments.participate.online/.
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There is no data to determine whether people making multiple reservations are locals trying to deal with life’s necessities, tourists coming for a luxury vacation or owners of Airbnb’s trying to keep a full house. There may be some abusing the system but many of those people won’t be deterred by an increase.in fees. The brunt of the increased Fees is likely to be paid by the locals who ride the ferries year round and have to contend with more variables then a preplanned vacation. Rather then penalizing locals and charging us more for a system that’s already difficult because of the constant unreliable sailing times and glitchy computer, I think the community should be involved in a discussion about how to improve the reservation system. We have been dealing with this reservation system WSF put in place for more than 4 years and to my knowledge there’s never been outreach to the community to hear how it’s working for them and to ask for input. From multiple conversations with agents I can hear that they really don’t understand how having to use their system effects our lives. Educating commuters in reservation etiquette such as cancelling a reservation you can’t use even if you don’t get your refund could be more useful than charging punitive fees. Why not try to first understand and address the issues rather then continue the pattern of creating even more challenges for locals to use the ferries?
I suspect that locals use the multiple reservation system more than people with “planned luxury vacations.” Those folks know when they are coming and going far in advance. We, however, can’t plan doctor appointments, etc., in that way.
I’m totally for raising the no-show fee. I’d actually like to make it more, like $25. If there is some reason one misses that sailing due to no fault of their own (traffic etc.) WSF might forgive the no-show. They are good about that.
Thanks, Lin, for posting this. Jeff, probably the longest-time ticket booth guy in Anacortes, explained that so many people make multiple reservations ( for many reasons), and then don’t do the courtesy of cancelling…by 5:00 the previous day…that it appears that the reservations are full. We, when trying to book on-line, and the ticket guys go by this calculation; they then find that, upon filling the staging area, there are spaces left. Sure, that allows more drive-ups to get on, but maybe not in the order one might want.
Let’s not let these multiple reservations go un-cancelled, if possible.
Remember, you can change or add a reservation up to 2 hours before sailing (though that, too has it’s problems during peak use time, as I found out the other day.)
It isn’t tough to figure out who the ferry system is trying to serve…..
Ever consider only allowing one reservation per account?
The ferry fare pr4oposal is to change for $10 no-show fee to 100% of the one-way vehicle and driver fare. That would come to $28.30 for travel in either direction between Orcas and Anacortes during the peak season ($21 in the off-season)–significantly more than the $18 cited in this article.
How about they just give medical appointments for locals priority space? Wouldn’t that solve the issue for one and all?
There already is a legitimate way to “game” the reservations system without having to pay a penalty.
It’s just sometimes inconvenient. But it’s sure-fire.
Make a late-run reservation. Then, if your appointment or meeting runs late, you can still make the ferry.
And if you get out early, you can go to the ferry terminal and ask to get on an earlier boat.
This works more often than not, and it even works during the summer rush.
Try it. You may like it.
Why do they need to charge a No-Show fee if you’re canceling your reservation anyway? Either you cancel it and they have an accurate count or you don’t, they have your $10 and the count is irrelevant. The broken system apparently makes them a lot of money. Obviously you’re trying to do the right thing if you cancel. Our use of the system is inherently dynamic, and they expect us to respect-and we do- that the boats are controlled by factors beyond the “rules of the system” (mechanical and environmental), yet they absolutely insist that we behave like cogs in the systematic machine. Life is uncertain and traveling on the ferries is hassle enough. I don’t cancel until the last hour because I’m always checking to see if there’s a time i can switch my reservations to in the future and have to wait for times to come “unbooked”. They should just load reservation cars first and as soon as their done load standby cars. If you have a reservation and you get there while reservation cars are loading, you’re on. If you have a reservation and they’ve already started loading standbys, you’re in the standby lane. Sometimes you know the exact time you’re going home, sometimes you’ve got a life beyond the islands…