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Commuters using the Gulf Harbour ferry are calling for people to lodge formal complaints with Auckland Transport every time a ferry is cancelled.
The Gulf Harbour Ferry Users group, which has 1200 members, is also considering following Waiheke’s lead and taking the issue to the Commerce Commission.
AT figures show that across Auckland, in January, 9.9 percent of ferries were cancelled or replaced with alternative transport, such as Ubers. In February that figure rose to 18 percent.
By comparison, the Gulf Harbour group’s figures show that, in January, 38 percent of their sailings were lost, and in February 34 percent, placing question marks over whether the service is fit for purpose and fulfilling its obligations to passengers.
The reasons given by ferry operator Fullers include ageing vessels and lack of staff.
But ferry users are fed up and say those excuses don’t wash any more.
A spokesperson for the group says Gulf Harbour misses out even more because the inner harbour routes are prioritised.
An additional frustration is that trips replaced by bus to and from the city take 1.5-2 hours compared with 50 minutes by ferry.
Fullers have a monopoly on the service and the users group says competition is needed.
“We are paying for a service that is not working,” the spokesperson says. “It is costing our sanity.”
Recently, frustrations boiled over and the call went out on the group’s Facebook page to hammer those complaints even more.
“We are a team of nearly 1200 commuters. We need to be the squeaky wheel.”
Backstories, August 22 and October 17, 2022; March 6, 2023
