Ferry fare comparison update

In August 2008 we did research into various ferry fares around the world. So we are now doing an update and comparison over 2 years later.

The Waiheke ferry is still up there among the most expensive in the world, not really a change there. Note that the $344 August 2008 fare was brought back to $310 in January 2009 and then increased to $315 until the recent rise to $330 in October 2010.
What has changed is an increase in the number of integrated ticketing systems available for all transport modes within a geographical region, something we are still waiting for in Auckland.

Service	Aug 2008	NZ$	Oct 2010	NZ$	Notes
Auckland-Waiheke		$344		$330	Valid for Waiheke ferry, bus and selected Auckland bus services
Wellington-Eastbourne*		$245		$252
Seattle-Vashon	US$118	$166	US$3.75 a trip	$4.90 a trip	New operator, electronic prepay
West Seattle-Vashon	US$55	$78	US$53.50	$70.30
Seattle-Kingston			US$275	$361.50	Brand new but limited service
San Diego-Coronado*	Free		Free
New York-Staten Island*	Free		Free
Sydney ferries*	A$1,280 to A$2,200 a year	$1,562 to $2,684 a year	A$41 to A$57 a week	$53.70 to $74.70 a week	New zone system, all modes
Boston ferries*	US$198	$279	US$198	$260.30	Valid for all mode travel
Alameda-Oakland*	US$170	$240	US$170	$223.50	40 rides within one month
Hong Kong Star Ferry*	HK$110	$20	HK$125	$21.20
Vancouver Translink	C$73 to C$136	$99 to $184	C$81 to C$151	$106.60 to $198.70	Zone based, all travel modes
Maine Portland	US$87 to US$127.50	$123.50 to $181	US$82.45 to US$125.15	$108.40 to $164.50
Isle of Wight	£150.80	$392	£163	$343.70

Notes: All prices are for monthly passes and ferry travel only, unless stated otherwise. The exchange rates are at Aug 2008 and Oct 2010.

* denotes not an island service, passengers have other (land-based) transport options

Late additions:
Vlissingen-Breskens* (Netherlands): €69.50

Den Helder-Texel (Netherlands): €30 (for 30 return tickets on an electronic chip-card)

Ferry patronage down in August

From the ARTA August 2010 business report:

Passengers taking Auckland’s public transport have increased again - with the total number of passenger trips for the month of August being 7.8% higher than August last year, with bus up by 7.0%, rail up by 17.2% and ferry down slightly by 1.3%.
Ferry patronage for August is -1.3% (4,300 boardings), lower than last August, for the financial year to date patronage is up by 0.7% (4,822 boardings) compared to the same period in the 2009/10 financial year.

No surprises here: August was a particularly bad month operations-wise for Fullers with Quickcat out on survey and Superflyte out of action for mechanical reasons. The patronage fall taken together with the selective discount for September passengers (monthly pass holders only) makes it unsurprising too that Fullers needed to rack up fares in October under the GST increase fig leaf.
Ferry wharf revenue by ARTA is $391,000 in the year to date (budgeted to reach $2.3m for the year, PDF report above, page 23)

Waiheke Board elections

The result of the local board elections doesn't bode too well for public transport users, since Waiheke has opted for mainly rightwing candidates - including a Fullers employee.
Thankfully both the Mayor and our new Auckland Councillor, Mike Lee, will be able to, through the Transport CCO, sort out the expensive mess on the Waitemata. But only if our new Proconsul Mark Ford can be made to.