— from Washington State Ferries —
Passengers looking to secure a spot aboard Washington State Ferries vessels in 2015 are sailing to success using WSF’s new vehicle reservation program, launched earlier this year.
Between Jan. 5 and Feb. 22, about half of all drivers departing from Anacortes, Friday Harbor and Orcas Island took the guesswork out of the equation by traveling with a reservation. The numbers swelled during Presidents’ Day weekend, with 75 percent of San Juan Islands-bound travelers reserving their space in advance.
“Customers with reservations experienced much shorter wait times traveling to the San Juans during Presidents’ Day weekend this year than in previous years,” said WSF Vehicle Reservations Program Manager Brian Churchwell. “Reserving a spot in advance not only guarantees a space on the ferry, it will help reduce wait times during our busy spring and summer sailing seasons.”
WSF is making 90 percent of every sailing to the islands available for vehicle reservations. Reservations are released in three, 30 percent tiers to help meet both the needs of customers planning far in advance and those making travel plans closer to their sailing date. Some unreserved space is set aside for emergency vehicles, customers with medical priority loading, and standby customers. Reservations can be made up to three hours before the published sailing time.
“We’ve seen a remarkable level of customer participation during these first few weeks,” said Assistant Secretary Lynne Griffith. “I want to thank our customers for doing their part by helping us better utilize the limited sailings to and from the San Juan Islands.”
There is no fee to make a reservation; however, customers may be charged a no-show fee if a trip on the reserved sailing or anytime within the same service day from the same terminal is not taken. Travelers have the option to cancel a reservation until 5 p.m. the day before the sailing without penalty. For more information, please visit WSF’s San Juan Islands vehicle reservations informational website.
Customers can book a vehicle reservation online or by calling 1-888-808-7977 between 4 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., seven days a week.
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Good update, Margie.
Larry Vandemeer advised me recently that 58% of daily space was being booked for reservation since the system was initiated. I am noticing more notices that sailings are FULL; today, at 5am, the 2:05pm return sailing to FHB was announced as full.
Whether or not you like the program, the reality is that this is the new system and to ignore it is to chance that you will wait a LONG time to travel until space becomes available.
On balance, I am satisfied that this will be a positive improvement for our island communities. It does, however, take some conscious planning ahead.
I am, however, still confused as to the procedures for making last minute changes or cancellations without being ZAPPED for a $10 penalty. My wife woke up ill yesterday and we had to cancel a planned “redeye” reservation.
Too late; CA-CHING…$$$. This needs to be discussed.
Trying to plan for summer, but the system won’t allow me to book past June 13. Hopefully, the rest of the calendar will open up soon since the message from WSF is book in advance or be left behind…
Neil Kaye, The ferry reservation system only allows you to reserve boats on the current schedule period. As I understand the system, WSF hasn’t yet determined the next schedule. Since the schedule isn’t yet know, they can’t possibly allow reservations. Once the summer schedule is determined and published then reservations can be made. Refer to question #25 on the reservation system FAQ: https://secureapps.wsdot.wa.gov/Ferries/Reservations/vehicle/shared/Save_a_Spot_FAQs.pdf
I’ve been critical of WSF over several issues in the past but I have to say that so far I really like their reservation system and the way that they have rolled it out in the off-season. The nagging fear that remains is how they will handle the vehicle traffic at Anacortes. Do we risk getting stuck in a long line of vehicles who don’t have reservations reservation while we try to claim our reservation before the 30 minute window closes? It will be interesting to see how that works. I hope they have a good plan for that situation.