Unreliable Stanley Bay ferry service comes under Auckland Transport control

Monday, 15 January 2018

Auckland Councillor Chris Darby supports changes to the Stanley Bay ferry service.

A notoriously unreliable ferry service is being taken over by Auckland Transport, a council-controlled body, which says commuters can look forward to a better service.

For years, Auckland councillor Chris Darby had regularly caught the Stanley Bay ferry to the CBD and watched as the route, that traditionally serviced dock workers travelling across to the navy yards, grew in popularity with commuters, now numbering around 50.

'In the past few months, there have been some significant failures in this service,' Darby said.

'This is the service that has been the first to be cancelled when there is a vessel failure in Fullers fleet elsewhere and people have been really frustrated.'

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On Monday, AT announced a new interim contract with Fullers, which required the ferry company to keep to the timetable and gave AT greater control.

Fullers relinquished the right to run the Stanley Bay service commercially under the Land Transport Management Act this month.

Prior to the contract change, the Stanley Bay ferry service was one of four public transport services not required to meet the same performance standards, in regard to timeliness and quality of service, that other Auckland public transport services were.

Devonport and Waiheke Island ferry services, as well as the SkyBus, remained exempt from AT control, something Darby expected to change.

'There is an expectation that, buses, trains, ferries, whatever part of the network you are on is going to be at the same standard day in and day out.'

In a letter to Minister of Transport, Phil Twyford, Darby wrote the services that are exempt from Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM) 'are subject to frequent delays and cancellations'.

'Notifications of these delays are sent hours after the event, rendering them useless to loyal commuters. I, along with other elected officials and local government organisations, receive an abundance of complaints about the service reliability, but are limited in the assistance we can provide.'

Darby said a Devonport ferry breakdown on Monday morning was an example of why all the services should have been under AT control.

Darby said he urged the minister to adjust the PTOM to include the exempt ferry services and he is confident he has Twyford's support.

'At the moment you can travel the rail and the bus with integrated fares, but you cannot travel bus, ferry then rail on an integrated fare to the same extent,' Darby said.

'If we can get the minister to take a look at removing that exempt status then that opens up a pathway for us to implement fully integrated fares right across the network without this gap in the harbour.'

The Fullers Stanley Bay monthly and 10-trip tickets, including tertiary passes, will be phased out to align with the AT HOP tickets across other ferries, including the AT HOP Inner Harbour Monthly Pass that can also be used on other services.

Fullers, a private operator, has a monopoly over Auckland's commuter ferry service and, for many years, residents have called for competition on the lines.

A competitor, Explore, entered the Waiheke service for just over a year, but folded in April 2016.

Delays, cancellations and long queues frustrated Waiheke residents so much they staged a protest rally over Fullers' level service at Mātiatia terminal last summer in December 2016.