Washington State Ferries - On-time performance & trip reliability
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Measures of Washington State Ferries performance: On-time performance & trip reliability
On-time performance & trip reliability
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. Trip reliability 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 trip reliability. For details on the methodology used to calculate Washington State Ferries on-time performance and trip reliability, see 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.
Multi-year trends
On-time performance on the Washington State Ferries system declined substantially between 2018 and 2022. In 2018, on-time performance varied by route from 78.8% on time on the Anacortes/San Juan Domestic route to 97.0% on time on the Point Defiance/Tahlequah route. In 2022, on-time performance varied from 67.0% on time on the Anacortes/San Juan Domestic to 93.3% on time on the Point Defiance/Tahlequah route.
Reliability also declined from 2018 to 2022. In 2018, two of the nine routes had over 99% reliability; in 2022, two of the nine routes did, but system-wide total declined from 99.2% to 97.9%. The least reliable route in 2018 was the Anacortes/Sidney, B.C., at 93.4%. In 2022, the Port Townsend/Coupeville route was the least reliable at 94.9%.
Annual highlights
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 trip reliability 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 trip reliability 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.
In 2018, 90.3% of sailings departed within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time, down 2.2 percentage points from 2017. The decline in on-time performance is mostly due to increased ridership, which increases the time vessels need to be at the dock for loading and unloading. System-wide, Ferries made 99.2% of its 162,587 scheduled trips in 2018, and had 1,248 net missed trips. The Port Townsend/Coupeville (92.9%) and Anacortes/San Juan/Sidney, B.C (93.4%) routes did not meet the annual goal in 2018.