Some good news from Auckland Transport that ferry patronage out of West Harbour has increased to the point of needing a larger ferry.
A jump in passenger numbers means a bigger ferry has joined the run to West Harbour operated by Belaire Ferries for Auckland Transport.
Belaire Ferries Managing Director, Adam Tallentire, says the 90 passenger Spirit will now operate on the morning services along with 49 seaters Clipper and Serenity. “With this increase in capacity we are confident that even more commuters will consider the ferry as an alternative, a way to escape the on-going upgrade work on the North-western motorway.”
The new service was immediately popular, on the first sailing of Spirit on Monday 3 March there were 64 passengers (picture attached). The previous capacity on the sailing was 49 passengers.
The West Harbour service has seen a 56 per cent jump in patronage since capacity was last expanded in October 2011.
There are 14 return trips between West Harbour and Downtown each weekday.
A 56% increase in patronage over just a few years is fairly impressive, even if just off a small base. I imagine the service could be especially popular over the next few years now that the North Western motorway has been turned into a giant work site.
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Cycle-commuter living in Huapai, going to try it for the first time tonight because I am feeling lazy. Will see how easy it is to find/tag on/off load bike etc…
Hi Al. I’m interested in finding out your route to Huapai and if there is anything you think could be improved easily.
Here you go…
http://www.strava.com/activities/117412588
It was great. About the same time as riding due to the berthing etc.. Good for those lazy days or when it’s raining. Nice to be able to read the paper etc too. So good that it’s direct and doesn’t stop at any other wharves on the way!
Pity it’s a bit ugly, haha. But no, good news; I used the smaller ferry on a one off basis the other week, to Downtown. Found it was very easy to find in the Marina, and staff very friendly. Was surprised that I couldn’t find a connecting bus service though, although maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. Or is this something the New Network will address?
I wonder how much the patronage will drop off once the expanded 12 lanes of motorway induce everyone back to driving.
Or they could run a more frequent timetable? Although I guess that would up the opex costs.
Seems daft to be doing the motorway if everyone is keen to move to PT… if the answer lay in just putting more ferries in service, what is the need for the upgraded motorway? Ok, so 63 people is hardly the entire workforce up there, but they’ve taken to the improved service like a duck to water…
Well it’s not too late to make a lane each way on that monster permanent bus lane for a pretty good second Bus Rapid Transit route for Auckland. Oh look, that’s just what we propose in our Congestion Free Network. Go NZTA and AT, do the right thing.
The ferry services on the harbour are totally uncoordinated as I recall with a service to Birkenhead, this service to West Harbour and a new one to Hobsonville, connecting with Beach Haven. Why not have a frequent service running in a loop connecting with all these destinations with say one service going clockwise and the next anti clockwise. Perhaps Te Atatu could be added into the circuit and this would open all sorts of travel options presently only possible by lengthy, congested car travel eg Birkenhead to Te Atatu. A bus could link the ferry at TeAtatu to the Henderson Railway Station?
To compete with buses/cars for journey time, the ferries need to run direct to the city. Adding multiple stops in the harbour would unnecessarily lengthen journey times. And to be honest, I don’t think there’s much demand from people to travel between Hobsonville and West Harbour, or even to Te Atatu, but ferry (as examples). While a nice concept, such services would be uneconomical and might actually reduce demand (due to longer travel times).
And yet I have observed during trips to Sydney that the Circular Key to Parramatta ferry service is usually full in both directions despite being a long journey and having multiple stops.
Yes, I know, Sydney is a populous city and Parramatta is an important suburban hub but my point is that people will still use the ferry even though there is also a motorway and a fast suburban railway that could be used for the same journey.
I don’t think that travel time and stops are necessarily obstacles to increased ferry use.
On my street in West harbour, several “holden driving dinosaurs” that wouldnt be seen dead on a bus have taken the ferry and enjoyed it. Its seen in a much more positive light than busses (dont ask me why). non have started to commute but the friday trip and a drink or two after work is really gaining traction.
However the problem with the ferry at the moment is price. While fares keeps on getting better and we now can use the hop card on the ferry, 11 dollars for a one way ticket is still a bit much. Buy a return and its 20 dollars. Thats 100 dollars a week or if you buy a card 82.
For some that barrier is to high. One might think the price should be the same on a ferry as it is if you catch the bus. Fair is fair.
Also as someone pointed out, why why why dont they connect the busservices to the ferry? Thats such a fail it hurts.
Arriving home to the ferry terminal is great, but where there is no bus and you have to walk 20-30 minutes in rain the greatness quickly looses its appeal. The landing and marina is a bit off most housing so if they coordinated the busservice it would increase ridership substantially.
And lets not forget West Harbour / Hobsonville is pinpointed to be one of the few really big growth areas of town for the coming years. Having a successfull and reasonably prices route to the city make that investment even more successfull for the city. Adding two or three stops on the route is ok. Adding five isnt. Serving Hobsonville, West harbour and another point on the shore works fine. But after that it needs to go to the city.
West harbour demographic is ripe for good bus/ferry service to the city. Its a upper middle class suburb with plenty of people that work in town. A large chunk of the population is Europeans and used to public transport.
Yeah and bring on the congestion free network. its well thought out and makes all the sense in the world. But thats another story…
I assume this ferry is run commercially hence the high prices? All the transport budget is used up expanding the North Western ad infinitum and of course in the government’s eyes car drivers deserve massive subsidies whereas anyone choosing not to drive is expected to foot their transport bill in its entirety. Won’t be changing anytime soon based on recent polls.
I have a good vantage point at work for the ferries and have noticed this new bigger beast in service. Nope, it’s not as adorable as the little bubble canopy Star Trek-shuttlecraft-type ferries they’ve been using to date, but good to see demand is on the up.
It wouldn’t be feasible for the West Harbour ferry to go to Hobsonville, as the channels in the upper harbour would require it to come down to Kauri Point, before it could turn and head back up to Hobsonville. If the council removed some of the speed humps on Wisely Rd, a shuttle bus looping around West Harbour could be a viable option. Currently the bus has to slow to walking pace every 100m…