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Auckland councillor John Watson says that the recent announcement that Auckland Transport (AT) is changing the ownership structure of ferries, may lead to improvements for the Gulf Harbour ferry service.
The ownership changes will make the ferry service more like trains, where AT own the vessels and they are used by whatever company is running the services.
“Hopefully this will make it easier for new operators to enter the market and provide competition to Fullers,” Cr Watson says. “Through this public-private partnership we’re getting closer to having a ferry fleet increasingly owned by Aucklanders, for Aucklanders. Certainly ferry users at Gulf Harbour will be hoping this equates to an uplift reliability across the fleet as a whole and an extension of services as public demand returns after the disruptions of the last two years.”
Along with the change in ownership structure, AT is working with Fullers and using funds from the Climate Action Targeted Rate to design and build five new plug-in hybrid ferries. These are on top of the two electric ferries the government is largely paying for. AT is also purchasing four existing ferries.
However, AT has been clear in the past that the length of the Gulf Harbour route makes it unsuitable for electric ferries at this stage.
Meanwhile the government recently announced it was extending the fuel tax/road user charges discount and the half price public transport fares. This was initially meant to be a three month change but the government extended it by two months at the time of the budget. This time they’re pushing the changes out another five months to January 31, 2023.
“That means only $5.80 for a ferry trip from Gulf Harbour into the city now with a HOP card – well worth the trip for anyone on the Coast who hasn’t yet tried it,” Cr Watson says.
