Washington State Ferries - On-time performance & completed sailings
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Measures of Washington State Ferries performance: On-time performance & completed sailings
On-time performance & completed sailings
On-time performance is the percentage of trips on each ferry route that depart within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time within a defined time frame (quarterly, annually, etc.). It may be reported system-wide or for specific ferry routes. WSDOT strives to keep vessels sailing on time, with an annual goal of at least 95% of all sailings departing within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time. Completed sailings is the percentage of scheduled trips that sailed within a defined time frame (quarterly, annually, etc.). It can be reported system-wide, or for specific ferry routes. Some scheduled sailings are delayed or canceled due to extenuating circumstances such as tidal issues, mechanical issues onboard or at the terminal, or public emergency events. WSDOT replaces canceled trips when possible, and strives to maintain at least 99% annual completed sailings. For details on the methodology used to calculate Washington State Ferries on-time performance and completed sailings, refer to Ferry Performance Analysis methodology (PDF 5.9MB). For the latest on-time performance report, please refer to Ferries accountability page Washington State Ferries accountability.
Source: Washington State Ferries.
Performance highlights
In 2023, 83.1% of sailings departed on-time (within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time) down 0.6 percentage points from 83.7% in 2022. In 2023, system-wide completed sailings was 97.2% with 145,351 scheduled trips and 4,096 net missed trips. The Anacortes/San Juan Domestic (96.0%), Edmonds/Kingston (92.7%), Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth (98.8%), Mukilteo/Clinton (98.2%), Point Defiance/Tahlequah (98.7%), Port Townsend/Coupeville (94.5%), Seattle/Bainbridge Island (98.5%) routes did not meet the annual goal of 99% on-time in 2023.
In 2022, 83.7% of sailings departed on-time (within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time) down 3.1 percentage points from 2021. System-wide completed sailings was 97.9% of its 132,096 scheduled trips in 2022, with 2,775 net missed trips. The Anacortes/San Juan Domestic (96.3%), Edmonds/Kingston (98.1%), Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth (98.7%), Mukilteo/Clinton (98.2%), Point Defiance/Tahlequah (98.5%), Port Townsend/Coupeville (94.9%) routes did not meet the annual goal of 99% in 2022.
In 2021, 86.8% of sailings departed on-time (within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time) down three percentage points from 2020. System-wide completed sailings was 98.6% of its 143,173 scheduled trips in 2021, with 2,663 net missed trips. The Anacortes/San Juan Domestic (97.0%), Mukilteo/Clinton (99.0%), Point Defiance/Tahlequah (98.3%), Port Townsend/Coupeville (95.1%), Seattle/Bainbridge Island (98.4%), and Seattle/Bremerton (96.3%) routes did not meet the annual goal of 99% in 2021.
In 2020, 89.8% of sailings departed within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time, down 0.2 percentage points from 2019. System-wide, Ferries made 98.6% of its 143,939 scheduled trips in 2020, and had 1,946 net missed trips. The Edmonds/Kingston (97.5%), Mukilteo/Clinton (97.6%), Port Townsend/Coupeville (95.1%) and Seattle/Bremerton (98.9%) routes did not meet the annual goal of 99% in 2020.
In 2019, 90.0% of sailings departed within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time, down 0.3 percentage points from 2018. System-wide, Ferries made 99.4% of its 163,050 scheduled trips in 2019, and had 913 net missed trips. The Port Townsend/Coupeville (96.0%) and Anacortes/San Juan/Sidney, B.C (92.7%) routes did not meet the annual goal in 2019.