Ferry service launches
The Gold Coast’s ferry service has finally cast off after failed previous attempts over the past two decades
PASSENGERS will board a Gold Coast ferry service this weekend after a wait of nearly 20 years.
The first of three Hopo ferries will take to the water today, starting with a ceremonial first journey this afternoon and regular services tomorrow.
The ferries will run hourly from 7am-9pm, seven days a week, except Christmas day.
Mayor Tom Tate will be aboard the first journey, which will run across the Broadwater from Sea World to the Mayor’s Christmas Carols at the Southport parklands.
Cr Tate said about 700 people were expected to use the system each week in its initial days.
“This new service, part of our 2031 Transport Strategy, offers a unique travel experience to our residents and visitors, giving them greater access to our waterways and popular destinations,” he said.
“Travelling by water is a great way to help reduce traffic on our roads and to enjoy the Gold Coast’s beautiful waterways. It is a win-win. Our transport demands are growing and changing, and the ferries are one way we are diversifying our transport network to ensure the Gold Coast remains a connected city.”
The ferries will stop at five waterfront precincts – Surfers Paradise’s Appel Park, HOTA, Marina Mirage, Sea World and the Broadwater Parklands. A round trip would take about an hour and cost $25. A one-stop fare is $4.
Today’s journey marks the end of a two-decade journey by civic leaders to set up a public transport system in the city’s waterways.
Operated by Ferry I, the trial will run until late 2021.
The council will analyse data with the State Government and Gold Coast Waterways Authority before deciding whether to continue and add further stops.
Cr Tate has mooted up to 14 stops under a future expansion, including Tipplers on South Stradbroke Island, Couran Cove, Labrador, Wavebreak Island, Doug Jennings Park on The Spit, Gold Coast Convention Centre at Broadbeach and
Carrara’s Metricon Stadium for Gold Coast Suns games.
Ferry I general manager Anthony Ardern said the service would become a permanent fixture if the public got behind it.
“Passengers will be able to buy a day ticket to hop on and off as much as they want in the space of a day, or a single destination ticket for just $4,” he said.
“The ferry will stop approximately every hour, with one ferry heading upstream and the other heading downstream. And they are fitted with ramps to suit people with all needs.”
The system has been projected to take more than 3500 cars off the road.
Tickets can be bought online at hopo.com.au, on the ferry, or at a Sea World Cruises terminal.
TRAVELLING BY WATER IS A GREAT WAY TO HELP REDUCE TRAFFIC ON OUR ROADS … MAYOR TOM TATE
IT has taken nearly 20 years of false starts for the Gold Coast to finally get its own ferry system.
That will end this weekend with the ceremonial first journey of the council’s new multistop service, which has now begun taking passengers.
Nearly two decades, four elections and three mayors later, the ferry has finally taken to the water for a two-year trial.
Ferries were first proposed during the mayoralty of Gary Baildon.
A high-speed ferry linking Brisbane with the Gold and Sunshine coasts was mooted by a Maroochydore-based company.
Under the 2003-era plan, the vessel would run between Mooloolaba and Brisbane’s Riverside Centre, stopping at Bribie Island and Redcliffe on its 75-minute journey. It would also travel to the Gold Coast.
Integrated Marine Services boss Des Ewen told media his 52m boat would carry up to 460 passengers.
It was described as “halfway between a catamaran and a hovercraft”.
It won the support of Queensland Tourism, but never got off the ground.
It came in the wake of a “doomsday” transport report commissioned by the State Government which warned that state-run roads would face total gridlock by 2008.
The draft city transport plan called for a whopping $3.26 billion in Gold Coast transport initiatives over 30 years, including:
A $635 million light rail or busway system linking the Gold Coast’s major seaboard centres.
A $10 million ferry system. A major overhaul of public transport with a priority on bus services.
A report later that year found a ferry travelling 13km between Sea World and Pacific Fair would be viable.
Its proposed stops included Marina Mirage, the former Sundale shopping centre site, Chevron Island, Evandale, Appel Park in Surfers Paradise, Isle of Capri, Jupiters Casino and the Convention Centre and Pacific Fair.
Under that proposal, ferries would run every half-hour, seven days a week between 7am and 10pm.
Ron Clarke, elected mayor in 2004, pushed ahead with plans for a solar-powered ferry system. The council selected
Solar Coast Cats as the proponent.
However, there was strong opposition from some locals who feared revetment walls along the Nerang River would collapse because of the waves left by the craft.
By 2006, the ferry service was to have 37 stops and appeared certain to launch in 2007.
But speed limits put on the waterways by the Bligh government tanked the proposal.
Cr Clarke spent the remainder of his mayoralty trying to make a ferry system a reality.
In 2009 he proposed a small-scale, high-speed link to South Stradbroke and in 2010 announced plans to take a system to tender, but neither eventuated.
In 2011 council put forward plans for a 12-month trial but baulked at spending $600,000 and pulled the bung.
The ferry system was revived again under Tom Tate’s mayoralty but it too proved elusive for many years.
In 2012 the council’s Heart of the City committee backed a $64 million ferry system while Cr Tate announced the following year he wanted to go to tender for a ferry service to operate during the Commonwealth Games.
In 2014 the then-Newman government announced plans to review speed limits on the Broadwater to allow a ferry to move forward but this too went nowhere.
Cr Tate made ferries a campaign promise at the 2016 council elections.
It took a further two years for his proposal to emerge and take shape.
The State Government came aboard this year, finally allowing ferries to finally hit the water.