Anacortes-San Juan Islands

[Olympic Ferries]

Some blatantly bad information from WSF here tonight during the #4 service disruption 

"For transfers from Lopez to Friday Harbor: Travelers will need to catch the 7:10 p.m. sailing to Anacortes, to be transferred to the 8:25 p.m. sailing from Anacortes to Lopez & Friday Harbor"

Why would they even suggest people do this? The #2 vessel that leaves Lopez at 7:10p returns to Lopez for a 9:15p departure Friday Harbor ~ very strange. This transfer makes sense for Lopez -> Shaw/Orcas people so they can catch the 8:55, but for FH-bound passengers, completely unnecessary.

[Olympic Ferries]

Sept 20, 2024 21:27:34 GMT -8 Blue Bus Fan said:

Sept 20, 2024 20:01:39 GMT -8 Kahloke said:

From the Weekly Update released yesterday, it looks like some emergency funding has come through to keep the inter-island vessel operational on weekends in the winter:
wsdot.wa.gov/travel/washington-state-ferries/about-us/weekly-update

Hopefully this change can remain permanent because it make sense.

As of now, the proposed daily schedule for the winter service is basically the Weekday schedule with the previously Friday-only sailings on the #2 boat running Friday-Saturday-Sunday which is nice and helps closes some service gaps that would normally exist on the weekend schedule.

[lavalamp]

Sept 22, 2024 17:01:43 GMT -8 Olympic Ferries said:

As of now, the proposed daily schedule for the winter service is basically the Weekday schedule with the previously Friday-only sailings on the #2 boat running Friday-Saturday-Sunday which is nice and helps closes some service gaps that would normally exist on the weekend schedule.

There was also mention of trying to add a Lopez-only trip around noon on weekends if they can make the crewing work out. Crew shifts sounds like their biggest issue right now.

[Olympic Ferries]

I finished compiling WSF's final Winter 2025 Schedule, which will debut on December 29 this year. The schedule and allotments can be viewed below! 

Most notably is that there will no longer be a weekday and weekend schedule ~ both have been combined to provide #4 Interisland service daily, and the #2 vessel will run in the afternoon/evening periods on Fridays thru Sundays, which was previously only on Friday on the M-F schedule.

As previously mentioned on here too, that #1 Lopez-only SatSun sailing was added to provide extra Lopez capacity EB on the weekend. As a result, that FH-Lop-Ana allotment was adjusted to provide more vehicles to Friday Harbor on that sailing around Noon. The FH allotments are adjusted based on weekday/weekend depending on whether that Lopez-only sailing is present, with about 65% on M-F from FH and its brought all the way up to 90% on the weekends.

Another change from the original M-Sun schedule they proposed back in September is that the #2 4:55p Ana/Lop/FH sailing no longer stops at Lopez on the westbound leg, will sail directly to Friday Harbor and make the Lopez stop on the eastbound leg at 705pm to close the 430/850p sailing gap. That new stop gets ~35% allotment since FH was not filling that sailing anyways. 


Winter 2025 Schedule by Jay Cassady, on Flickr

Something else I noticed that they talked about in this most recent meeting was the adjustment of "realistic vessel capacities" during allotment planning, with the Issaquah class going to 114 cars from 120, Olympic down to 134 from 141 and the Super class down to 132 from 139. Allotments remain percentage-based, regardless of assigned vessel, and are listed for each sailing below. Assigned vessels for winter (standardized) are #1 Yakima, #2 Chelan, #3 Samish and #4 Tillikum.


Winter 2025 EB Allotments by Jay Cassady, on Flickr

Assuming the regular vessel assignments and reduced planning vessel capacities as listed above, I calculated the allotment numbers as given based on the percentages above. Numbers are listed below for each sailing. Depending on how some of these new sailings preform traffic-wise, my only potential consideration for changes would be upping the Lopez allotment on the 430p sailing Monday-Thursday when there is not another sailing until 850p (625p on Fri-Sun). Just my thought from looking at it though. 


Winter 2025 Allotment Numbers by Jay Cassady, on Flickr

Overall, the work WSF has done here seems really well thought out, especially towards addressing concerns from Lopez residents with travel to Anacortes. Reservation release will be on October 29th, noting as well that the reservation allotment will increase back to 90%/sailing up from the current 75%/sailing. Very excited to see this schedule in action this winter.

[Olympic Ferries]

Winter schedule as I posted above, is now officially visible on the WSF schedule site! Reservations will still push as scheduled (30% at 2 months prior) on October 29th.

[Kahloke]

Oct 17, 2024 8:49:45 GMT -8 Olympic Ferries said:

Winter schedule as I posted above, is now officially visible on the WSF schedule site! Reservations will still push as scheduled (30% at 2 months prior) on October 29th.

Thanks for posting that.  It looks like they got the vessel assignments right.  Chelan as #2 seems correct given that it only operates half days Monday thru Thursday, and its afternoon/evening schedule on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays is limited to direct sailings (ie. only to one island, no multiple island stops).  Of course, this only applies when the regular vessels are assigned.

[Olympic Ferries]

Oct 17, 2024 9:37:26 GMT -8 Kahloke said:

Oct 17, 2024 8:49:45 GMT -8 Olympic Ferries said:

Winter schedule as I posted above, is now officially visible on the WSF schedule site! Reservations will still push as scheduled (30% at 2 months prior) on October 29th.

Thanks for posting that.  It looks like they got the vessel assignments right.  Chelan as #2 seems correct given that it only operates half days Monday thru Thursday, and its afternoon/evening schedule on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays is limited to direct sailings (ie. only to one island, no multiple island stops).  Of course, this only applies when the regular vessels are assigned.

Vessel assignments actually got changed since I last had information on it, Samish will run #1 here, so I'll go in and make some updates to all that information, with Chelan holding #2 and Yakima headed to #3.

[Kahloke]

An article on KOMO today about the new San Juan schedules starting with the winter schedule in late December of this year:
one of the points confirms my assumption on the 50 minute inter-island sailing time between Orcas and Friday Harbor, and that is the elimination of the Wasp Passage routing, having the vessel backtrack and go around the east side of Shaw (Upright Channel) instead.  The article also highlights the complexities and various considerations that have to be taken into account when writing a new schedule.

New ferry sailing schedule designed to cut delays, frustration in San Juan Islands

by Denise Whitaker, KOMO News ReporterTue, October 29th 2024 at 2:03 PM
Updated Tue, October 29th 2024 at 4:41 PM

It’s been very frustrating for locals and tourists to get to and from the San Juan Islands by ferry for the past several years.  Now, for the first time in more than a decade, Washington State Ferries (WSF) is rolling out a new schedule that starts in March. “The current schedules have not been revised in 10 to 15 years and are so out of date that it causes delays and frustration for all involved,” Steve Nevey, the head at WSF, wrote in announcing this new change.

WSF Director of Planning, Customer, and Government Relations John Vezina told KOMO News that the agency is fully aware of the frustrations and hardships that come when a boat is late or can’t sail because of a staffing shortage or maintenance issue. WSF has spent almost two years working to fix this for the San Juan Island routes, Vezina added.  Vezina said they created a community task force to help and used public outreach to create a new sailing schedule.  It includes daily inter-island service through the winter, thanks to state funding.

The new schedule is intended to provide a more reliable service to the San Juan Islands community. “It's really complex to reset a schedule,” Nevey said when asked why WSF doesn'tadjust sailing schedules to eliminate the often-daily alerts telling riders that a ferry is running behind schedule. “We're required by law to do a lot of community engagement and there's a lot that goes into it," Nevey added. "Like there's school bell times, there's things you wouldn't have even thought of."

Nevey said WSF must consider many variables, including crossing times, fueling time, relief time for engine room and other WSF employees on board the boats, and dwell time—which is how long the boat is at the dock unloading and loading vehicles. Vezina said those work hours are set by the U.S. Coast Guard and if a boat is running late and keeping employees longer, then they must cancel sailings at night so they can get off work and have enough turnaround for the next morning.

WSF also cannot schedule overtime, Vezina said. Another factor outside WSF'scontrol is traffic surrounding its ferry terminals and the timing of traffic lights.

On top of that list of variables, a new hit to the system was when Vezina said their service planner left. Vezina said it took time to hire someone new because maritime scheduling is very different from other transportation scheduling systems. The public engagement piece of the puzzle also played heavily in this schedule reset.

The community task force included 26 citizens who reviewed all of the variables and even pointed out a few things the experts missed, Vezina said. Today’s dwell times and passenger loads are much greater than a decade ago.

This new schedule also removes Wasp Passage, a narrow spot at the northwest end of Shaw Island. Vezina said ferries will now go around that passage to avoid unscheduled slowdowns, but he said a captain who feels comfortable through that passage can choose to take it.

Reservations are now open for the spring sailing schedule, which begins March 23, 2025. The new summer sailing schedule begins June 15, 2025.

komonews.com/news/local/wsf-sailing-washington-state-ferries-ferry-schedule-delays-frustration-san-juan-islands-cancelations-boat#