Last working Penang ferry breaks down
GEORGE TOWN: It is a daily routine for R. Magheswaran to take the 8am ferry to Butterworth on the mainland, but yesterday was different.
For the first time in the 29-year-old company executive’s life, he reached the ferry terminal only to find that the service had completely stopped.
The last working ferry in the 126-year-old history of the service developed major engine trouble late last night and thousands of commuters needing to cross the Penang channel found themselves stranded.
At about 1am, Rapid Ferry posted an alert that the ferry service had stopped in its entirety, but few Penangites needing to cross the channel daily saw the post. They arrived by the thousands with no way to cross the sea.
“Of late, there have been a lot of delays in the ferry arrivals during peak hours. Sometimes, the scheduled arrivals were cancelled at the last minute and I had to rush to Penang Bridge,” said Magheswaran, who takes ferry rides in his car.
“There were times when I would reach my office so late because of the morning rush hour traffic on the bridge,” he added.
Bank employee Abdul Shukor Abdul Rahman, 30, said it was frustrating to wait for the ferries in recent months as they were never on time.
Four ferries were supposed to travel between the island and mainland but recently, Rapid Ferry issued a public statement that only one working ferry was left and trips on either side had to be reduced to one every hour.
Rapid Ferry head Osman Amir said now that the last ferry had broken down, the service would be disrupted for two days until tomorrow.
“Rapid Ferry has prepared 10 free transit buses with a frequency of 10 to 20 minutes to move commuters between Penang Sentral in
Butterworth to the Weld Quay bus terminal on the island,” he said.
The breakdown of the ferry service does not come as a surprise as Rapid Ferry had been struggling with the condition of the aged ferries, some of which are over 40 years old.
Ridership sank to a low of 1,000 from 16,000 a few months ago during the movement control order (MCO), a drop of more than 94%.
Prasarana Malaysia Berhad, the parent company of Rapid Ferry, was put in an untenable position as it did not receive a RM90mil funding request to buy new passenger ferries and repair the six existing ones.
Prasarana had to fork out RM24mil a year since it took over the service from Penang Port
Sdn Bhd (PPSB) in May 2018.
Prasarana chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said in July that it would end its term of running the Penang ferry service by the end of August and was in the process of handing it back to the Penang Port Commission (PPC).
PPC chairman Datuk Tan Teik Cheng said it was necessary to overhaul to improve the current ferry services.
In a statement yesterday, he conceded that the ferry service was not up to expectations.
“We have asked Rapid Ferry to provide a complete report and recommended solution. We are now handling the transfer of the ferry service from Prasarana to PPSB and we apologise for the hardship caused to commuters,” he said.