NW Ferry vs Ride Pingo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NW Ferry
Plan your Washington State Ferry trips with real-time schedules, live vessel tracking, and service alerts. See dock conditions and estimated drive-up space to stay ahead at the terminal.
- Real-time schedules and fares
- Live vessel tracking
- Service alerts for delays
- Terminal camera views
- Drive-up space estimates
- Favorites and recents
- Apple Watch app and widgets
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Plan your Washington State Ferry trip in seconds. NW Ferry gives you real-time schedules, live vessel tracking, service alerts, terminal cameras, and drive-up space estimates — everything you need, in one fast app. Whether you're a daily commuter or heading to the San Juan Islands for the weekend, NW Ferry keeps you one step ahead at the dock. What you get with NW Ferry: - Real-time schedules & fares: Check upcoming departures, fares, and seasonal schedule changes for every WSF route - Live vessel tracking: Watch ferries cross Puget Sound in real time - Service alerts: Know about delays, cancellations, and route changes before you leave - Terminal cameras: See dock conditions before you drive there - Drive-up space: View estimated vehicle space remaining for upcoming sailings - Favorites & recents: Save your go-to terminal pairs and jump back to recent routes in one tap - Quick route swap: Reverse your departure and arrival terminals in one tap - Apple Watch app & widgets: Check your next sailing from your wrist — with Closest Terminal and Favorite Terminal widgets - Home Screen & CarPlay widgets: See upcoming departures at a glance, including a Favorite Terminal widget for CarPlay Terminals covered: Anacortes, Bainbridge Island, Bremerton, Clinton, Coupeville, Edmonds, Fauntleroy, Friday Harbor, Kingston, Lopez Island, Mukilteo, Orcas Island, Point Defiance, Port Townsend, Seattle, Shaw Island, Sidney B.C., Southworth, Tahlequah, and Vashon Island. NW Ferry requires an internet connection to load live schedule, fare, and vessel data. NW Ferry is an independent app and is not affiliated with WSDOT or Washington State Ferries.
Ride Pingo
This app offers shared rides for the price of a bus ticket, providing a smart, easy, and affordable transit option. Request on-demand rides, track shuttle services, or book accessible transportation.
- On-demand ride requests
- Shuttle service tracking
- Accessible ride booking
- Affordable travel
- Community transit
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Transit that moves with you. The Ride Pingo app allows you to share the ride, wherever you want to go, for the price of a bus ticket. It's a smart, easy, and affordable way for you and your community to ride with transit. Use our app to request On Demand rides, track Shuttle services, or book Access rides. Ride Pingo is currently operational in multiple locations across the US, Netherlands, Andorra, and UK.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Ride Pingo at Free against NW Ferry's $1.99. Ride Pingo also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 months) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). NW Ferry's advantage is review sentiment (68% vs 50%) and chart position (#100 vs unranked). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Ride Pingo is free to download; NW Ferry costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for NW Ferry against 4.7 for Ride Pingo. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.2K and 1.6K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 68% of NW Ferry's written reviews are positive against 50% of Ride Pingo's.
NW Ferry ships an update every 6 months, Ride Pingo every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NW Ferry | Ride Pingo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.2K ratings) | 4.7 (1.6K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 67.6% of reviews — better | 50.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2.2K — better | 1.6K |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Ad-supported — better |
| Best chart rank | #100 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 108 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Durbinware | The Routing Company |
Customer experience
NW Ferry
Ride Pingo
User reviews
NW Ferry
From 2.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Accurate and up-to-date
- 📊 Helpful for planning ferry trips
- 🔍 Useful camera views
- 🗓️ Essential for frequent ferry users
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unreliable data and inaccurate information
- 🔍 Missing important features like arrival times
- 💰 Paid app with limited functionality compared to free options
- 🔄 Slow to update and unresponsive to schedule changes
- 🔧 Buggy and crashes frequently
Ride Pingo
From 1.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great service
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚕 Convenient transportation
- 💯 Excellent drivers
- 🕰️ Prompt and on-time
Room to improve
- 🐛 App issues (crashes, glitches, bugs)
- ⏱️ Inaccurate ETAs and timing
- 🗺️ Poor mapping and location tracking
- 🤖 Unreliable app functionality
- 📞 Lack of customer support
Bugs and requests
NW Ferry
Reported bugs
3 issues- App won't open on Apple Watch
- Broken links to customer support
- Inconsistent display of car capacity information
Requested features
5 requests- Display full day's schedule instead of just upcoming ferries
- Allow customization of routes/terminals shown
- Add real-time updates for delayed/late ferries
- Integrate ticket purchasing/reservation functionality
- Improve widget and 3D Touch functionality
Ride Pingo
Reported bugs
4 issues- App not working in certain areas
- Login/signup process issues
- Incorrect time zone handling
- Payments not processing properly
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to message drivers before pickup
- Option to switch drivers during a ride
- More accurate real-time tracking
- Improved routing and scheduling algorithms
- Seamless integration with other transit options
In-app purchases
NW Ferry
No in-app purchases
Ride Pingo
No in-app purchases
