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Disgruntled and frustrated Gulf Harbour ferry-users had a number of questions for Auckland Transport (AT), which contracts out the service, and operators Fullers360, at a meeting held at Gulf Harbour Yacht Club on October 6.
The service has been letting its customers down with trips replaced with buses at short notice, not enough buses provided for all ferry commuters, ferries running late and poor communication.
The Gulf Harbour ferry-users Facebook group has more than 800 members and they know their ferries – many have been using the service for years and know each ferry by name.
Around 80-90 ferry users attended the evening meeting and for some, their frustration boiled over as they shared stories of delays and cancellations leaving people stranded, causing stress and reprimands for frequent lateness at work.
The service was described by one commuter as “the ferry lottery”.
The group provided figures which show that 36 percent of all services were cancelled or replaced between January and October.
Fullers360 chief operations officer Paul Trotman had no easy answers but rejected a claim that their communication with passengers was “dishonest”.
“We are not dishonest – we are dealing with a massive problem,” he said.
Trotman said it’s been a “horrific” three years and ongoing issues related to Covid-19 mean a lot of the service’s poor performance is out of the company’s control.
Issues such as loss of staff and trouble recruiting, as well as supply chain hold-ups, were ongoing, he said, with many of the same issues affecting their ability to provide replacement buses. Weather has an impact too, and Trotman said there the company is between a rock and a hard place, with complaints coming in if they sail when it’s too rough and complaints if they cancel the ferry because of weather.
He said the company is actively recruiting and hopes to have more crews in place in a year’s time.
One question raised from the floor was why Gulf Harbour ferries are cancelled, with that ferry diverted to the Devonport or Half Moon Bay routes – especially as commuters can more easily commute by car to the city from those parts of Auckland. “We feel like an orphan service,” one commuter said.
This, Trotman put down to the fact that there are 10 times more people on the Devonport route and while not every boat can do the longer Gulf Harbour run, any boat can do the inner harbour routes.
Representatives from AT, Catherine Jones and Darek Koper, apologised for the failings and offered no excuses, but explained some of the processes and issues from AT’s perspective.
Koper said that new key performance indicators for the service would be put in place from November 1, including deductions for non-punctuality.
Koper also committed to investigating improvements at the ferry terminal including the potential for shelter and better disabled and pedestrian access.
AT and Fullers360 also said they were willing to be part of a working group with ferry users, aiming to find solutions.
The meeting remained positive, allowing people to express their concerns without abusing others. Users group spokesperson, Tessa McGuire, said they were really happy with the turnout and the engagement of commuters, Fullers and AT.
“If anything we have been heard and they know we won’t be going away or putting up with current service delivery,” she said. We don’t have all the answers yet, and some solutions may take time.”
