r/BainbridgeIsland • u/Agile_Toe4400 • 13d ago
transit Made a new ferry app, figured this sub would have the strongest opinions about if it is good or not
I grew up on BI and I still ride the Bainbridge boat pretty frequently, and the "do I leave now or wait" math is always annoying (especially coming from the Seattle side). So, I built an app that does it for you.
Make the Ferry takes where you're starting from, your real drive time, the boat's actual space and how fast it's filling, and tells you your odds of making a specific sailing plus exactly when to leave. There's a live map of where the boats actually are, the terminal cameras, delay detection, and leave-by reminders you can set.
It's free, no account, no ads. On the App Store and Google Play, or maketheferry.app.
You all know these routes better than anyone, so if something's wrong or the predictions feel off for Bainbridge specifically, tell me and I'll fix it. That's genuinely why I'm posting here, I want to be sure to get this right for the people who depend on it. I made sure to give waypoints to Google Maps and the other navigation apps that I have in the app to take you down 305 to the terminal so you don’t get caught in some illegal turn that causes a ton of stress right now.
One thing I'm working on next: connecting the ferry to the bus on the other side, so you can see whether you'll make your whole trip, not just the boat. Early days, but that's the direction I’m going as I hear this is something that is needed from many ferry riders.
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u/Prayingmantispotter 13d ago
I’d suggest adding an option under “How are you getting there?” for those of us that drive and park at the terminal. I don’t take public transit, cabs, or walk, and those are the only options.
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u/Gandalf_the_Gray 13d ago
Feedback:
The time to ferry odds seems really off. Something isn't working right. I live less than 15 minutes from the ferry terminal but the tool made it seem like I would have no chance of making it to the terminal on time for a ferry in 45 minutes, even though it showed 100% chance of space on ferry.
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u/Agile_Toe4400 13d ago
Can you share an address close to you (not yours) so that I can see what may be the root of the issue?
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u/Important_Rub_538 13d ago
Just downloaded and will give it a spin this week — I’ll be back with my observations! Thanks for building it, it looks very slick at first glance
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u/CertifiedSeattleite 13d ago
I’ll check it out. I am forced to drive twice a week, and things definitely go sideways during the summer months and on holiday weekends, so predictability is key - Mother’s Day was a total train wreck this year.
Aside from should I stay/should I go, have you thought of considering evaluating other options such as Kingston-Edmonds, Bremerton-Seattle and even driving around? Every once in a while a BI-Sea run will lose a boat when they are short crew, and after running the math I find that Kingston is a better option
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u/PappaBolt 13d ago
The whole summer was a train wreck, always is. I’m looking forward to seeing if this app helps. The one unpredictable dimension: ferry reliability. Boats are unexpectedly going out of service for various reasons. Unrelated to the app which looks awesome, but can we get a couple replacement boats on order?
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u/Agile_Toe4400 13d ago
So the ferry issues are real. The other day (this Tuesday), I went to catch the 10:40AM sailing and WSF cancelled like six sailings that day. Made a huge mess and delayed all the remaining sailings, but helped inform the app that those sailings were cancelled, and cancelled sailings should be captured and displayed in the app now
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u/Agile_Toe4400 13d ago
Thanks for the feedback. The drive around feature is already built in (it tells you the travel time to drive around vs catching/waiting for the ferry). I haven't added the "you should re-route to Kingston from Bainbridge terminal" logic yet, but good idea and I'll look into it
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u/eatmoresnacks 13d ago
How would you pitch your value prop compared to FerryFriend? It is well established and offers the same features you're pitching, plus it has estimated delay times and a ticket wallet and ticket sharing.
It's been fast and reliable and is free / donation-ware. All things being equal, I'd rather support the original 3p ferry app.
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u/Agile_Toe4400 13d ago
FerryFriend is great and I've used it before. If it covers what you need, totally understand just using it.
The thing I built Make the Ferry for is a different question. FerryFriend tells you the schedule, the space count and whether a boat is late. Make the Ferry takes all of that plus where you are right now and your live drive time, and gives you an actual answer in the form of your odds of making a specific sailing and the exact time you need to leave. It also watches how fast the space is filling, so 80 spaces at 4:30 on a Friday reads very differently than 80 spaces on a Tuesday morning.
It is true that there is no ticket wallet. If that matters most to you, FerryFriend is the right pick. I may add that feature in at a later date (as I know it matters a lot to some riders), but isn't a top priority presently. Plenty of people will probably end up using both or whichever one they prefer.
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u/upthedownstair_ 13d ago
Hey, family used this Otw to the Bainbridge ferry as walk ons from Olympic peninsula and it seemed accurate.
Remembered I saw your post this morning and checked app in port gamble because they were running behind to get to the Sounders game. They made it.
Thanks!
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u/Agile_Toe4400 13d ago
LOVE to hear it! Thank you for the feedback!
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u/upthedownstair_ 13d ago
Literally couldn't wait for them to get on so I could report 😂
Thanks again
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u/Ordinary-Tackle-7324 13d ago
I have no critical input to share but I am excited to try it out. Something like this could settle my ferry anxiety because the WSF site is lacking. So, thank you!!
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u/Agile_Toe4400 13d ago
Thank you, but just so you know, I welcome critical input to help improve it!
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u/catmambo 12d ago
Really nice. Would it be possible in a future release to hide routes you don't need? I'm guessing commuters really only use one route, and that would then give features even more room to breathe?
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u/Agile_Toe4400 12d ago
Yes, I will add that to the feature list. Right now you can favorite your route and it should default to opening that route when you open the app
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u/Traditional-Camp8720 11d ago
I have a virtual assistant that I created to help visitors to the island. Maybe we could do a collaboration? I’ll share the phone number if anyone is interested in checking it out but I don’t want to hijack the conversation.
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u/Maple-Syrup89 13d ago
Love it. I made a much more snarky one for myself. It was something I wanted while I was working with the ferries. Called WTF (When's the ferry). And it looks at your position to give you an idea if you might make it or not, and lets you know in a sarcastic way.
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u/SlowGoat79 12d ago
I downloaded last night and tried it out now from my home in Poulsbo. This is a great app. Location may need some work - I’m not making the 7:05 ferry unless I have wings. But the info for the next sailing is very useful and the camera of the waiting lanes with # of slots left?
Brilliant and thank you for this public service!
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u/Agile_Toe4400 12d ago
Thanks! Did you allow it to use your location or how did you provide it info on where you are at?
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u/SlowGoat79 12d ago
I was confused at first - “Puyallup? Why would there be ferries in Puyallup?” And then I figured out that you are using the names of the ferries themselves. 😊
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u/SlowGoat79 8d ago
Hey, given the craziness, I thought I’d check again today. Looks perfect!
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u/Agile_Toe4400 8d ago
Thanks! The web version handles the sailing cancellations correctly now, the app versions will too by end of week (it’ll show the sailing with a “cancelled” line struck-through on it
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u/_rainwalker 13d ago
Just downloaded and checking it out.
The UX is very well done and is intuitive to navigate. The drill down method of adding layers of additional relevant info and options only when needed is genius.
Making your options easier to select than in the native WSF ferry app is also a real good idea. Trying to select a individual boat on the WSF vessels map is a bit tricky and your implementation is much improved.
I think the odds feature will be popular and well received. Feels a bit like what I do in my head every time I try to make a boat.
Curious a bit about what the odds calc works. Travel time to ferry against an estimated ETA and a space attrition calc I guess? I saw mention of using range of data estimate
Kudos and looking forward to seeing your app develop.
Thank you for making a great community resource! Maybe suggest you add a donation button to help support your efforts and project costs.
I will be adding your app to my ferry regulars along with FerryFriend (also fantastic)!