Loving the ferry but need more
Faced with sitting in gridlock or riding the waves, catching the ferry to and from work seems the obvious choice.
At least, it is for West Auckland commuters using the ferry service from Hobsonville Point.
Point resident Riarna Donaldson said she loved the ferry and had made friends with other commuters.
‘‘The sunrises in the morning are incredible, and we’ve had dolphins follow us.’’
Leesa Robinson of West Harbour has many photos on her phone of early morning rides and said it was a quick 30 minute trip and ’’fantastic way to start the day’’.
However, the commuters said they’ve had to adjust their work hours to suit the ferry timetable, as there are only two scheduled sailings in the morning and three in the afternoon.
For Robinson, the early sailing time of 6.55am - with the next ferry not until 8am - means she has an arrangement to drop her daughter at care just before it opens at 7am.
Despite working on Queen St, Robinson said she also needed to arrange to leave work before 5pm to catch the earlier ferry.
The main afternoon sailings are at 5.15pm and 6.15pm.
Donaldson has also had to change her hours at work to 7.30am-3.30pm to make the 4.05pm service home.
Auckland Transport ferry services manager Gareth Willis said in an email statement the initial provision of services to and from Hobsonville Point were identified within available funding provision at the time, and also to cater for the expected demand from customers during the first stages of the housing development.
Willis said it was ‘‘excellent to see’’ patronage on the ferry route was continuing to grow, in line with projections before the service started four years ago.
However, Willis said AT had been monitoring demand versus capacity provided, as they plan for the next stage in provision on the service.
He said there had been feedback from customers wanting additional services, but had not received much in relation to amending the times of existing services. AT are currently assessing what can be done with current sailings related to vessel size, service times and options for addition service, including a review of the 5.15pm service.