Waiheke Island ferry users say 'enough is enough

Saturday, 10 December 2016

Longer than ever queues which, protestors say, inconvenience tourists as well as commuters are one of the problems.

Waiheke residents are uniting to make their voices heard over the current level of service provided to ferry travellers to the Auckland island.

At a 10am rally at the island's Matiatia ferry terminal on Saturday, residents talked about their disappointment over late ferries and long queues.

Protest leader Graeme Ransom, who runs a Waiheke tour company, is calling for a change in the Transport Act so operators will have to sign a contract.

In a letter to ferry travellers last week, ferry operators Fullers acknowledged there had been problems with the service.

Company chief Doug Hudson said in the letter large ferry Superflyte remained out of service because of a double engine failure.

Protestor Judith Madarasz said two weeks' ago she boarded the 5.30pm ferry, which eventually left at 6.25pm.

* Waiheke Island Explore ferry services axed

* Waiheke ferry users to fight for competition on Auckland sailings

The unusual situation meant other large vessel Quickcat, originally scheduled for its annual maintenance survey when Superflyte returned, had also been taken out of service for that to be achieved.

Then, Quickcat's survey had identified a problem which would take a week to rectify.

Hence two large vessels could not be used in the interests of staff and passenger safety.

'We are incredibly disappointed in the events that have unfolded and understand the impact this has on the island's reputation as a destination, and sincerely apologise to our customers and business partners.

'Please be assured that our teams take this very seriously,' he said.

Protest organiser Graeme Ransom said it was a problem that needed to be sorted out at government level.

'This is not about Fullers, it's about the authorities who have allowed this to happen,' he said.

Ransom is calling for a change in the Transport Act so the route is taken over by Auckland Transport.

He said Fullers Ferries would then have to operate the service under a contract with rules that would bind the company to levels of service and pricing.

Government minister and Central Auckland MP Nikki Kaye said, on December 8, she had already raised the issue of the ferry service with Auckland mayor Phil Goff.

She said she was planning to have further talks with him about it.

Kaye said she had met with Fullers to try and get a process in place to improve investment in ferry infrastructure, and expected to have further meetings in January.

'Waiheke is servicing not only its residents but a huge number of tourists.

'Both central and local government have to step up to service tourism infrastructure on the island.'

Meanwhile, the 35 residents at the protest rally were united in their criticism of the current service.

'It's not just about commuters, it's about the sick and vulnerable,' resident Judith Madarasz said.

'People have to get to hospital appointments, and they can't get there in time.'

A commuter of 15 years said commuters didn't even get priority boarding.

'We join the queue in Auckland at the ice cream shop waiting for tourists to get on.

'I've missed ferries because they've been too full.'