Full Auckland ferries turn away 53 cyclists in four weeks

Wednesday, 26 May 2021

Ferry services from Te Onewa Northcote Point Wharf relaunched in February 2021, two and a half years after the wharf was closed for health and safety reasons.

Fifty-three Auckland cyclists have been turned away from ferries due to a lack of space onboard in the past month, data from Fullers has revealed.

It comes as Auckland Transport (AT) invests in cycling infrastructure to encourage people to get on their bikes. A $1 million cycleway trial in the Viaduct began earlier this month.

Fullers and AT are now looking at how to make more space for bikes and e-scooters on ferries.

Bayswater man Chris Burgess, 38, witnessed four cyclists being turned away from his local ferry on Tuesday morning.

Four cyclists were unable to board a ferry in Bayswater due to a lack of space on Tuesday.

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“There’s a lot of people that use the ferry and their electric bikes to get to work as a means of avoiding the Harbour Bridge,” he said.

Over the past four weeks 53 cyclists have had to wait for another service due to a lack of space for bikes.

“When the ferry doesn’t allow these bikes on, you’re pushing people into their cars and to sit in traffic.”

Fullers confirmed 10 bikes and three scooters were loaded and four bikes were left behind when the 8.10am Bayswater ferry service sailed.

Burgess said the rejected cyclists were left looking “pretty angry and upset”.

“You feel for the cyclists, they’re trying their best to commute in a low impact way,” he said.

“Our ferries just aren’t set up for it.”

Fullers spokesman Alex Dudley said there has always been a limit to the number of bikes allowed on ferries.

“If a sailing reaches the maximum number of bikes and scooters before a passenger has boarded, they will need to wait for the next sailing,” he said.

Fullers says there is a limit to the number of bikes permitted onboard ferries. (File photo)

“However, the Master on each sailing has the authority to permit more bikes and scooters on a sailing to exceed the indicative capacity outlined in the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) if they deem it safe and appropriate.”

Fullers’ vessels have bike storage, racks or hooks, but the space available for bikes varies by vessel make and model.

Smaller boats allow up to 10 bikes on board, while larger vessels have room for 25 to 30.

Each vessel’s maximum capacity is in place to ensure exits are clear and safety equipment isn’t blocked, Dudley said.

Dudley said on Tuesday morning a different boat was operating the Bayswater service, which had less bike capacity than the regular vessel, due to a vessel breakdown.

“The vessel in service today has an indicative bike capacity for six bikes. On this occasion the Master used their discretion to enable an additional four bikes and three scooters on board,” he said on Tuesday.

“Under this scenario it was deemed the vessel had reached its capacity in accordance with a reasonable and practicable assessment.”

Both Fullers and AT have observed an increase in passengers boarding with a bike or scooter in the last year, post-Covid-19.

Data from Fullers showed there were 12,000 bikes carried across 2600 ferry services over the past four weeks.

Dudley said in the short term Fullers is looking at interim solutions which will enable greater bike capacity on some ferries.

AT spokeswoman Natalie Polley said the transport provider is working with Fullers to increase capacity on-board vessels.

“In the draft Regional Land Transport Plan, there is a provision for AT to commence work on the decarbonisation of the Auckland ferry fleet. This is still work in progress,” she said.

“In the meantime, talks continue with Fullers360 and Bike Auckland around how additional capacity can be provided on existing ferries for bikes and e-scooters.”

Bike Auckland was contacted for comment.