Free Ferry-Feeders for Fridays

29 October 2002

Eastern suburbs residents will be able to travel to the CBD for less in November and December, with the introduction of free ferry-feeder buses to the Half Moon Bay ferry wharf.

The Auckland Regional Council and Howick & Eastern Buses have initiated several timetable changes and the ‘Free Friday Feeders’ to encourage as many people as possible to use the buses when travelling to and from the ferry terminal.

ARC Passenger Transport Committee Chairwoman, Catherine Harland, says the best way to attract people to alternative methods of travel is by offering them frequent and reliable alternatives.

“Ferries are a fantastic environmentally-friendly way to travel. We want to encourage more people to think about leaving their cars at home and trialling the free feeder buses to travel to the wharf in November and December. In line with the ARC’s Big Clean Up campaign challenge to reduce car trips by two per week, Free Friday is a great way to kick off the weekend.”

Bill Dalbeth, Managing Director for Howick & Eastern Buses says that ‘Free Friday’ is a great excuse for people to try something different. “Friday is always the best day of the week. It’s the start of the weekend, ‘casual Friday’ attire is the standard at many workplaces, and people generally have a more relaxed attitude – so why not think about a better way to get to work? Free ferry feeder buses are a stress-free way to catch the morning and evening ferries.”

The ARC undertook a survey earlier in the year to determine why ferry passengers generally chose not to utilise the feeder services.

“Feedback indicated that some of the feeder trips are not working well for many people using the Half Moon Bay ferry,” says Cr. Harland. “As a result, we’ve deleted these trips and instead responded to demand for a later trip in the evening on both the Howick and Bucklands Beach routes.

“If demand for more bus feeder services increases, we’ll definitely be looking to add more trips next year.”

- Deleted ferry feeder bus trips on the Bucklands Beach route (effective November 1):

9.55am, 11.55am, 1.55pm ex Clovelly Road.

- An extra trip will be added (effective November 1) to the Howick and Bucklands Beach routes meeting the 6.30pm sailing from Downtown.

ENDS

© Scoop Media