New and improved Northcote Wharf

North Shore City's mayor, George Wood, joined early morning harbour commuters today and officially opened a new and improved Northcote Point Wharf in the first major achievement of a $35m regional project to upgrade Auckland's wharves and get more people travelling by ferry.

"The improvements to the Northcote wharf now allow all-weather access for ferries which means a much more reliable service for local commuters," says Mr Wood. "Previously commuters often had to be dropped off at nearby Birkenhead Wharf if the weather conditions weren't right."

He says the improvements have included rebuilding the end of the jetty, installing a new hydraulic ramp and ferry berthing piles for faster and easier turnaround of the ferries.

"This is a fantastic start to making ferry travel a more attractive option for commuters in our city as part of our own FaB (Ferries and Buses) project and the regional plan. It is only a 10-minute ride across the harbour to downtown Auckland from Northcote and there is plenty of free all day parking near the wharf. Improvements to our other ferry wharves will soon follow."

The $175,000 upgrade of the Northcote wharf has been carried out by Auckland Regional Transport Network Limited (ARTNL) Harbour Berths, with funding from Infrastructure Auckland (IA). North Shore City Council bought the wharf from Ports of Auckland earlier this year with funding from IA, and then contracted ARTNL Harbour Berths to manage, maintain and upgrade the Northcote wharf along with its other five wharves as part of the regional ferry initiative to improve facilities for commuters.

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