— from Sen. Kevin Ranker —
“Over the past several weeks, I’ve heard from many of you regarding your ideas, questions and concerns regarding the Washington State Ferries Reservation system.
“I want you to know that I too have questions and share some of your concerns. While some of you have shared stories with me regarding significant benefits of the reservation system, others have expressed serious concerns stating that the reservation system has made it difficult for locals and businesses that rely on our ferries.
“One thing is for sure, the implementation of the Reservation System is a work in progress and while I do not anticipate, nor do I support, the repeal of the system, there are likely to be changes made as we learn what works and what doesn’t.
“In addition to receiving comments from dozens of individuals at my office in Olympia and on the island, I have held meetings with members of our lodging industry, construction industry, local ferry workers, chamber of commerce, visitor’s bureau and others. I have also met directly with State Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson.
“These meetings have been productive and critical toward understanding all aspects of this issue. I have provided a letter to Secretary Peterson that lays out my preliminary recommendations to address some of the issues with the reservation system.
“Your continued input is a crucial part of this process. Please contact me at my office at (360) 786-7678 or by email at Kevin.Ranker@leg.wa.gov so that I may hear what you think and what ideas you may have so that we can keep people and commerce moving.”
Kevin; The WSF reservation system is a reflection of the changes that have occurred in our Island community over many years. Nearly 40 years ago, I was instrumental in helping create the very first reservation program at WSF. We instituted reservations for commercial business with certain conditions of travel that made predictability of travel for those companies an important element of their success. Ask those businesses today (Island Market, Orcas Freight) if they could function effectively without commercial reservations.
The new reservation system is a major change for residential travelers and visitors to our community, and will take some adjustment to our planning for travel on WSF. I have used the system successfully nearly 20 times already and am comfortable with it. A year from now it will be part of our everyday experience.
That all having been said, there are issues that need attention from WSF.
Most importantly is the possibility that the system is being abused by over booking of space to assure that visitors can arrive at their rented accommodations in a timely manner, OR, when someone is not sure when they will return home. Both of those situations are a weak spot in the protocols.
On balance, I believe that our community will adapt to the new realities of ferry travel, IF we all and WSF work together to work out the kinks.
I surely wish I could say that I’ve had any good experiences with the new reservation system. Part of the problem is the fact that either the ferry workers are being told to “sell” us a positive line when we ask questions, or they are being told to lie as best they can… I can’t give you an example of a question I’ve asked so far that the answer I was given was even close to the truth! For example, when trying to return to the Island on a tourist-popular ferry, I have been told, “Yes you still need to get here 3-4 hours early (even with a medical loading slip), but don’t worry about getting through the traffic into the lot because all the toll booths will be open!” NOT TRUE — only two of four were opened and the traffic was backed up half-way up the hill. No reservation will solve that problem! Then, on top of that, things were so backed up at the “lane assignment booth” that cars couldn’t even get to the two toll booths that were open. Did anyone give any thought to the traffic patterns??? The people at the toll booths say “They won’t listen to us…we told them this would happen! We have twice as much work to do and everyone has questions….” Then on the Memorial Day weekend we missed our reserved ferry off Orcas because the ferries were running more than an hour late! We sat in line for two and one-half hours before we finally went to the office to see what was going on. By that time it was too late for us to make a medical appointment in Bellingham! What happened to the speakers in the parking lot? Could someone in the office have announced that the ferries were running late? Or is that just too much of a bother. That is currently my impression. Running this whole ferry system is just too much of a bother! Merry
During our latest experience, the ferry lines with “stand-by” passengers were loaded PRIOR TO THE LANE WITH RESERVATIONS. When I asked one of the agents why that occurred he said ” just get on the ferry!”. Being rude does nothing to sustain positive experiences.
Another experience was when a female agent at the toll booth was asked what will happen if driver with a reservation and cannot reach the toll booth timely due to long lines. Her response was ” that’s your problem, plan ahead”. Is that the experience we want from ferry agents? I dread the summer lines. Yes, I do believe folks are making multiple reservations. Time will tell how difficult the summer travel will be.
My father poses the following:
“Most importantly is the possibility that the system is being abused by over booking of space…”
WSF should have all the raw data to prove or disprove this statement. The fact that the reservation fee is refundable, makes it so this can happen. But, it is happening on a large scale or not?
It would be great if WSF releases the raw data from the reservation system (with appropriate private information redacted) to the public so that others can analyze this data and put a lot of these questions to rest and come up with ways to continue to evolve this system based on real data, not emotional stories.
The initial reports WSF has provided about ridership percentages over Memorial Day weekend is great, but there is a LOT more to learn from the data. Share the raw data please so that others can help you analyze it!
So far for me I am happy with the reservation system and I have not had any problems, I like to be in line one hour before departure not 30 minutes. Proper information should be given to all employees so that they give the proper information to all riders. One day there was a cancellation but the inter island ferry was used with only one hour delay.
Please send comments to Senator Ranker and fill out the survey.
Since it takes me an hour and 15 minutes from my home on Obstruction Island to the ferry lines I like knowing that WHEN I get there, I will be on the ferry. I also like the added time on the mainland side — not having to arrive 1 1/2 hours ahead to be more-or-less certain to get on a chosen ferry.
An Orcas lodging manager has told me that bookings are down 20%, saying people won’t reserve lodging when they can’t secure a reservation. It can be argued that once guests understand the system, this will level out. It seems sitting in the parking lot for 5 hours on Sunday can’t be a grand final memory of an Island weekend.
Sunday crowds and not enough space? I suggest an enterprising boat captain convert his whale watching boat to a charter to bring and return wedding guests from and to the mainland. This would need to be coordinated with bus/taxi operators on the Island. The 75 guests x 5 weddings are all trying for the same 2 or 3 ferries on a Sunday as all the rest of the tourists and some of us residents and our guests.
The system SHOULD be able to identify duplicate or redundant reservations! We have to enter our email addresses and our credit card numbers, so WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? Flag these requests: “arew you sure that you want to make a duplicate/redundant request? On a second attempt, warn them, and on a third attempt, block them from making a reservationQ!
I have to admit I have not used the new reservation system yet but have a reservations for August 12th or a medical appointment. My concern is that the same thing will happen that happened with our last reservation system. The only time in 40 years to miss a ferry to the island and it was because there was no separate lane for reservations so you had to wait in line with everyone else. I was up the hill and around the curve on the main road and waited for hours. I’m one of those who is at the landing at least one hour before the red-eye, not ten minutes or 30 minutes like some people and never missed a boat. I have always been in line at least one to two hours before the ferry coming back and never missed a boat except for the one time with the reservation system. Hopefully things are better organized this time.
2 concerns:
– overbooking with a $10 fee for each and the possibility of none with 24 hrs notice means that someone booking an expensive once-a-year vacation or their agent just sees it as a minimal cost, blocking the rest of us out of ferries that may leave the dock with extra spaces. I for one have stopped even considering going standby – a night on the mainland does not appeal to me.
– we have repeatedly been told (and assume is true) that if we show up to travel standby on an earlier ferry than the one we are reserved for, we give up our reservation. This again means we may end up spending the night on the mainland. Because we live on the islands our trip pattern is reversed from tourists and our trip timing more unpredictable – these ferry trips are part of our lives, not just our one-weekend vacation from our lives. We travel to the mainland for appointments and errands. If these tend to run long, we book for the latest ferry we may need to catch. If they run shorter and we can catch an earlier ferry this policy leaves us with the conundrum: do we waste our valuable time napping in a parking lot or cruising the used books at the library or do we risk not getting home at all that day?
The ferry system is part of our highway system. So lets look at a highway analogy. It was bad enough before when the “freeway on-ramp” required a multi-hour wait before letting us get on “I-5” to get home or back to work from the doctor’s appointment because the legislature decided to only provide “one lane” for “four lanes” of car traffic. Now you it’s best if you know 2 months in advance that you will be at Anacortes “on-ramp” after that root canal visit or that meet-up with traveling friends or that shopping trip on an unexpected day off. Otherwise you may spend additional hours, Senator, hanging around, never even being able to get onto the “on-ramp”, let alone the “freeway” and spending your night and your money at that motel looking out at the lucky tourists traveling the half-empty “freeway” to enjoy your home community while you sleep in a strange bed.
Yes, I know we have always known we live on an island and coping with the ferry system is part of the bargain. But we did not expect to have to cope with this. I truly hope that the island lodging industry IS negatively impacted, since the reservation system seems to have been instigated specifically to benefit them, not residents. I know I am negatively impacted.
The old-time island people will probably spend hours recounting stories of the good old days when you had to put your car in line the night before (in lane 2) if you wanted to be sure to get off the island. Or finding a line stretching back to downtown Anacortes on the 4th of July weekend. Or viewing every other driver on the road as someone who is competing with you for a place in line. Or getting to the ferry 3 hours early and being the first car NOT to get on the boat. Ah, those were the day!
For my part, I like the system. We used it once last year to get from the Olympic peninsula to Whidbey, and it was smooth as silk. And we just used it to secure a spot on the Sunday evening sailing at the end of our 5-day drive from Illinois. That one turned out not to be necessary because the boat was not full, but we were able to plan our last day of driving in a way that allowed us to do some last minute shopping without the usual high anxiety.