Missed trips up, reliability down for quarter

The WSDOT released its quarterly report today for the quarter ending on September 30, 2012. In the report, statistics on Washington State Ferries showed that the number of missed trips had gone up and the reliability of ferries had gone down.

A number of factors contributed to the changes, which effected especially the Bremerton - Seattle route. The WSDOT's report can be seen below:

"Washington State Ferries missed 220 net trips in the first quarter of FY2013. This was 34 more net missed trips than in the same quarter last year. Net missed trips are the number of trips canceled that were not replaced.

There were 42,692 regular service trips scheduled in the first quarter of FY2013. Of those, 318 trips were canceled and 98 were replaced, resulting in a total of 42,472 trips during the quarter (42,692 scheduled – 318 canceled + 98 replacement trips = 42,472 net trips). This represents a trip reliability rating of 99.5 percent.

Trips may be canceled for a variety of reasons, including tide and weather conditions, mechanical problems with vessels or at terminals, emergency transport, staffing issues, and when vessels fall too far behind schedule to complete all trips for that day."

The main reasons for the trip cancellations during the quarter:

• Tides and fog on the Port Townsend - Coupeville route
• Motorized/Vessel (M/V) Kaleetan propulsion issues on the Seattle Bremerton route
• Propulsion issues on the M/V Issaquah and a temporaryschedule adjustment from three-boat to two-boat serviceon the Fauntleroy - Vashon - Southworth route
• Not meeting U.S. Coast Guard staffing levels

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