Longest same-day ferry rides.

A ride leaves a terminal and comes back to it on the same day: one journey out to another terminal, then one journey back, with at least the 15-minute boarding allowance between them, home before midnight. The longest ride has the most scheduled minutes aboard. Waiting between ferries and time ashore do not count. Ties go to fewer ferries, then more terminals called at, then the earlier arrival home.

Each journey follows the planner’s rules for changing ferries: within one named terminal, 30 to 180 minutes between ferries, at most three changes each way. Separate terminals, such as Pier 41 and the Ferry Building, are never joined by an assumed walk. One way may take up to 12 hours here; the planner plans up to six hours, so a ride with a longer journey has no planner link. A ride from Angel Island starts and ends on the island.

A grand tour is a chain of two to six scheduled legs, one ferry each: the first leaves the terminal and the last arrives back there the same day, before midnight. It may pass through the same terminal more than once, the starting terminal included, but never rides the same sailing twice or the same crossing in the same direction twice. Each change follows the same rules as a ride’s: within one named terminal, 30 to 180 minutes between ferries, no assumed walk. The longest tour is chosen the same way, by scheduled minutes aboard with the same tie-breaks. Waiting between ferries does not count, and no time ashore is counted. A grand tour has no planner link; plan each ferry separately.