March madness: Auckland commuter surge leaves ferry passengers stranded
Tuesday, 25 February 2020
The annual 'March Madness' surge in public transport use is leaving ferry passengers stranded at Auckland's Hobsonville Point dock.
'If people get left behind there is a 75-minute wait for the next ferry, it's not like there is another one soon,' one commuter told Stuff.
Auckland Transport (AT) and Mayor Phil Goff on Tuesday promoted additional bus and train services to cater for the surge across the city, but did not mention the looming ferry problem, highlighted a fortnight ago in an internal briefing.
'Capacity is expected to be constrained, with potential for some customers to be left behind,' AT's Stacey van der Putten wrote on February 12.
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AT confirmed that passengers had been left behind on Tuesday morning.
The late February and March peak happens because the fewest number of workers take annual leave it is the start of the tertiary education year
The crowding comes several months before new fares are introduced aimed at making ferries more popular, by allowing a free bus ride connecting with either end of the ferry trip.
Hobsonville Point poses a unique challenge with planned, steady population growth, in a government-owned development touted as a model for sustainable living.
The former air force base is just over half-developed with 2300 homes, and a further 2200 to be built over the next five years.
The ferry service was launched with great fanfare in 2013, after significant investment by the Government developer - now Kāinga Ora-Homes and Communities - and Auckland Transport, in a new wharf and subsidies.
After a slow start averaging just 15 to 20 passengers per sailing, the subsequent completion of medium and high density housing has led to annual crowding problems, and several capacity increases.
'Discussions have been held with (ferry operator) Fullers360 around securing an additional vessel,' van der Putten said in the February 12 memo on 'March Madness' initiatives.
'However, the costs of an additional vessel are considerably outside of available funding and would not support ATs future vessel specification,' she said.
The chair of the council's planning committee, Chris Darby, has written to Auckland Transport seeking possible solutions to what 'could be a very noisy and embarrassing situation'.
'The travel patterns of new residents' risk becoming entrenched driving patterns,' Darby wrote.
The Hobsonville Point crush highlighted a bigger problem facing Auckland Transport, on how to improve and expand ferry services, the most-heavily subsidised mode of public transport.
A strategy to build a new ferry fleet was abandoned due to cost, and AT was back at the drawing board, with one option being the city owning new vessels and contracting them out to operators, similar to rail services.
In the meantime the current fleet of ferries, owned by operators, is stretched to capacity at peak times.
Hobsonville Point is also served by buses, but another resident said services were crowded.
'The 120 bus route is great but over-crowded in the mornings and becomes infrequent too early at night,' one commuter said.
Ferries account for 6 per cent of Auckland's 103 million public transport trips, but three-quarters of those ferry trips are on the commercially-run Waiheke Island and Devonport routes.
Fullers360 said in a statement it was working with AT to keep in step with the growing needs of the community.
'We remain committed to providing an efficient and reliable service during times of high demand, where we connect the Hobsonville Point community to the Auckland CBD,' chief executive Mike Horne said.