More seamless ferry travel

the starting point

Some Finferries ferries operate according to schedules that users can follow on the Finferries website or mobile app. On some routes, there is no pre-defined schedule, meaning the only way to book a ride was to contact the ferry operating the route by phone. The challenge of predictability and trip planning, along with the volume of manual reservation handling using the “pen and paper” method, had become an issue for both travelers and ferry captains. Together with Finferries, we set out to create a more modern solution to this problem.

our solution

Finferries’ new booking system is implemented with WordPress and uses the WooCommerce e-commerce plugin as its engine. Ferry departures have been added to WooCommerce as products and departure times as product variations. This allows the use of WooCommerce’s database and functionality for order management. Although payments do not yet flow through the system for now, we wanted to build a platform where this feature can be easily introduced later. In connection with the booking system, it is possible to create simple content pages, such as instruction pages. 

Customers log into the booking system with their own credentials and can make bookings for routes for themselves and any vehicles they are bringing along. Through the web service, they can browse upcoming trips and their own bookings and make changes to them. Upon confirmation of the bookings, users are sent details via email and SMS, enabled by a separate integration. 

The captains operating the ferries have their own view in the service. The captain’s view displays days and day-specific departures, as well as passenger information. The captain’s view remains readable even if the internet connection is temporarily lost, as the page can be loaded from the browser cache without a network connection, and data is updated when the connection returns. 

the result

Although some customers still have the option to call and make a reservation using the traditional method, the number of calls has dropped significantly since the system’s launch. In the design and implementation of the booking system, we focused equally on easing the daily lives of customers and captains, and according to feedback received, we have succeeded in this. With new features still in the works, the process will be further automated, and valuable customer and usage data will be collected to support the development of operations nationwide.