At Vaxholm (in Sweden), we spent an hour picnicking and watching cars embark and disembark from the ferry boats that connect the islands in the Archipelago. We listened to the waves in the Baltic Sea and watched the process. This is what we first saw. The ferry pulls up and docks. You can see that the gates are just opening and all of the 4 lane lights are red.
Cars line up on the street (which is a dead-end into the sea) well ahead of the departure time. We didn’t see a ferry schedule and I’m not sure whether they allow reservations, but there are only so many ferries and only so much space on each ferry. I would hate to not show up early enough to get a spot. Plus, you wouldn’t want to miss it.
They didn’t buy the tickets while waiting in line. I’m not sure how they sell tickets, whether they are available online ahead of time or someone comes around during the ride to sell them during the ride. Once the gates are open, the light for lane 4 comes on and cars drive one by one onto the ferry.
Once the first row is full, they start loading up another row. In the photo above, you can see a full row. You can also see the green light has come on for row B to begin loading that row.
The loading process was very efficient and went quickly. Once the cars were on, they closed the gate and lowered the bar. Immediately after, the boat disembarked.
Not long after that, another boat arrived.
When boats disembarked, we were sometimes surprised by what came off. Speeding off the ferry on bicycles looked like fun. The vehicles exited in an orderly manner. In the lower photo on the left, you can see they have a sign with a signal that tells which row can exit.
Can you imagine taking a bus on a Ferry. They disembarked so quickly that I think the passengers must have traveled inside the bus. Plus, it didn’t look as though the boat had a passenger cabin.
schwingeninswitzerland 