Tueday 6:15pm: Starflyte docking at Pier 2B left again before all passengers
had disembarked. It caused an almighty ruckus, crashing gang planks and
screaming passengers but the skipper went merrily on his way to his
dinner break. Which means the boat is out of service too, with an even smaller vessel now having to do the 8:00am ex-Waiheke sailing. Is Fullers' staff pissed off, or just instructed not to give a damn about passengers any more?
Newspaper report here
UPDATE: If you were an eyewitness of this incident, the family involved wants to hear from you: please email saunders.csk@xtra.co.nz or via mail 34 Frank Street, Oneroa.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
How sheep feel on a shipment to Dubai
It's been another Winter of breakdowns, overloaded small vessels and passenger grumbling all round. So far, so groundhog day for Fullers: the annual survey of the boats is usually accompanied by breakdowns in the other parts of the fleet due to over-work. Jet Raider can't handle peak hour traffic due to its restricted loading speeds and the small riverboats can't always make it due to rough seas.
Every year the same old tired story, and the same old tired excuses.
Every year the same old tired story, and the same old tired excuses.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Join the Waiheke Navy!
Waiheke Navy is run by a tourist company, Around Waiheke Tours.
Initially the members-only service will be quite limited (one return sailing a week on Saturdays, but the website hints at more), cost $10 one-way and less when buying a multi-ride ticket. No supergold card will be accepted.
At first sight, the appeal and market is quite limited (it has to be as they can only accommodate 49 people per sailing) but good for, say, doing your weekly shop in town to beat the high prices at the Waiheke supermarket. For commuters and the elderly, Fullers will remain, for the time being, the only game in town.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Fullerswatch in the local board by-election campaign
Paul Walden published an e-zine for his bid to become the new member of the Waiheke Local Board, replacing Denise Roche.
It has a funny cartoon on Fullers boat breakdowns and an article on issues facing Waiheke ferry passengers and commuters.
If he gets elected he said he would work for the travelling public.
The magazine is on line [PDF] here.
It has a funny cartoon on Fullers boat breakdowns and an article on issues facing Waiheke ferry passengers and commuters.
If he gets elected he said he would work for the travelling public.
The magazine is on line [PDF] here.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Hop and integrated ticketing
Some interesting updates on the state of integrated ticketing in Auckland on the ever-interesting Auckland Transport blog. I've been partaking in the commentary on behalf of ferry users, which are in danger of being left out of any integrated structure.
We pay rates as the rest of Auckland so we deserve to be included in a system where you pay for the distance you travel, regardless of the mode of public transport you use - just like the Super Gold Card holders currently enjoy. If that means $5 Waiheke trip fares, so be it. We have been paying monopoly fares for far too long already.
We pay rates as the rest of Auckland so we deserve to be included in a system where you pay for the distance you travel, regardless of the mode of public transport you use - just like the Super Gold Card holders currently enjoy. If that means $5 Waiheke trip fares, so be it. We have been paying monopoly fares for far too long already.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
"Winter" breakdowns are happening earlier and earlier
"Unplanned maintenance". That dreaded text message which means high capacity boats are taken out of service for any length of time. This time it was Superflyte which, reportedly, struck a 'submerged object' that knocked out one of the rotor blades. So off to Whangarei for repairs and off the run until at least the weekend. And we collectively hold our breath.
You have also noticed the monthly pass price went back up to $350 in February. I innocently asked the counter attendant whether that would mean more boats (or even boats that run and arrive on time), but she laughed hollowly at me. Welcome back to the cost-plus-plus world of Fullers.
You have also noticed the monthly pass price went back up to $350 in February. I innocently asked the counter attendant whether that would mean more boats (or even boats that run and arrive on time), but she laughed hollowly at me. Welcome back to the cost-plus-plus world of Fullers.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Request for information
We had a request to call for information from passengers who happened to have travelled on the 4:00pm boat from town on 23 December and got on the bus at Matiatia. If you had any concerns about the bus passenger loading, could you contact this email address or call 0800 566 366, that would be most appreciated.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The 180-min journey to work
The Waiheke Marketplace newspaper ran a piece with commuter experiences on the ferries, sadly it's not online. A slightly different article, but based on the same information appeared in the East & Bays Courier.
It inspired me to fire off the following letter to the editor:
It inspired me to fire off the following letter to the editor:
Dear George,
The fluffy piece of salad day journalism by Nicola Murphy and Lyndal Jefferies "Work's a 180-min journey" requires necessary balance. For Waiheke commuters, the journey to and back from work in the city involves one of the most expensive commuter fares in the world. At $4,000 a year, what do you actually get? Boats that rarely arrive at the advertised time causing missed bus and train connections. Cancellations and breakdowns occuring like clockwork, often mid-channel and which require a return and transfer (but, mercifully, a $10 compensation voucher). Those breakdowns are euphemistically referred to by Fullers as "unplanned maintenance" and they come on top of annual boat surveys that seem to take longer every year.
You may think that the Waiheke commute is a damn sight better thing than sitting in a gridlocked motorway every morning, but your 'reverse commuter', Mr Schippers, enjoying the "easy parking" in Devonport, should have mentioned he can actually park for free, a privilege not enjoyed by islanders, who are unique in the Auckland public transport system of not having a free park & ride facility that North Shore busway commuters take for granted. Perhaps this is because the Waiheke Fullers route is actually not a public transport service but communal private transport delivered by a monopoly company.
It's my impression that Fullers actually doesn't like commuters. It prefers the $35 return tourist fares because revenue per passenger is so much juicier. Tourists don't turn up in Winter so boats can be taken out of service at random, and bugger the resulting cramped conditions for the captive daily customer. In Summer, boat charters and private cruises for corporate Christmas parties yield so much more profit it pays to cram commuters onto the smaller vessels, sardine-style.
The vaunted aspects of the boat commute - the community-style interactions between passengers and the opportunity to actually make the time work for you - are a little overdone. There is, for example, no free wi-fi on board, something that is increasingly common on public transport overseas and even on inner city Auckland buses, trains and even Sea Link to Half Moon Bay.
As long as Waiheke is not integrated into the Auckland public transport system (we haven't heard whether Hop will come to Fullers, let alone at $14.50 for a day pass valid for travel across Greater Auckland, a fare touted for travelling a similar distance on other Auckland public transport modes) Fullers - and Sea Link - will continue to abuse their monopoly position and slowly strangle life on Waiheke for all but the well-heeled. The island's gentrification and unaffordability will continue and the only beneficiary is Fullers' bottom line.
UPDATE: The letter (slightly edited) was published, good on ya, George.
UPDATE: The original article has been retracted by the Marketplace after one of the interviewees complained he wasn't actually interviewed for the piece.
You may think that the Waiheke commute is a damn sight better thing than sitting in a gridlocked motorway every morning, but your 'reverse commuter', Mr Schippers, enjoying the "easy parking" in Devonport, should have mentioned he can actually park for free, a privilege not enjoyed by islanders, who are unique in the Auckland public transport system of not having a free park & ride facility that North Shore busway commuters take for granted. Perhaps this is because the Waiheke Fullers route is actually not a public transport service but communal private transport delivered by a monopoly company.
It's my impression that Fullers actually doesn't like commuters. It prefers the $35 return tourist fares because revenue per passenger is so much juicier. Tourists don't turn up in Winter so boats can be taken out of service at random, and bugger the resulting cramped conditions for the captive daily customer. In Summer, boat charters and private cruises for corporate Christmas parties yield so much more profit it pays to cram commuters onto the smaller vessels, sardine-style.
The vaunted aspects of the boat commute - the community-style interactions between passengers and the opportunity to actually make the time work for you - are a little overdone. There is, for example, no free wi-fi on board, something that is increasingly common on public transport overseas and even on inner city Auckland buses, trains and even Sea Link to Half Moon Bay.
As long as Waiheke is not integrated into the Auckland public transport system (we haven't heard whether Hop will come to Fullers, let alone at $14.50 for a day pass valid for travel across Greater Auckland, a fare touted for travelling a similar distance on other Auckland public transport modes) Fullers - and Sea Link - will continue to abuse their monopoly position and slowly strangle life on Waiheke for all but the well-heeled. The island's gentrification and unaffordability will continue and the only beneficiary is Fullers' bottom line.
UPDATE: The letter (slightly edited) was published, good on ya, George.
UPDATE: The original article has been retracted by the Marketplace after one of the interviewees complained he wasn't actually interviewed for the piece.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Fullers apologises to its Waiheke customers
I found an A5-sized pamphlet on the ferry headed "Customer Announcement: An Apology to Our Waiheke Customers". I can't find it on their website to link to, so I'll paraphrase. It says they had a larger number than expected vessels out of service due to what they call "unplanned maintenance", a euphemism for engine breakdown. Planned maintenance on Adventurer had to be delayed due to the Rugby World Cup and its unusually busy period (didn't they know this event was coming?).
Then for some statistics: in the past 3 years, 13 out of 20 engines have been rebuilt or replaced (several boats have two engines, it's not as if Fullers have a secret fleet stashed away somewhere) at a cost of over $4 million. Regardless, the "unusually high breakdown rates" indicate to me either bad engineering skills or patch-up work to keep costs down in the short term (but of course not in the long term, as any business 101 course will tell you).
But happily we can look forward to the triumphant return of Superflyte on the 6:30pm ex-Auckland sailing (after a spate of sardine-like conditions lately), and Doug Hudson is looking forward to your comments. Leave your feedback here.
You really have to be stupid not to think that the point of catastrophic breakdown of the ferry system in Auckland, i.e. when there are simply not enough vessels to meet the demand, is not far off and that the company is derelict in its investment plans for new capacity. The tragedy is that there is simply no mechanism or regulation in place to ensure that Waiheke is not economically strangled by this private profiteering monopoly company.
Then for some statistics: in the past 3 years, 13 out of 20 engines have been rebuilt or replaced (several boats have two engines, it's not as if Fullers have a secret fleet stashed away somewhere) at a cost of over $4 million. Regardless, the "unusually high breakdown rates" indicate to me either bad engineering skills or patch-up work to keep costs down in the short term (but of course not in the long term, as any business 101 course will tell you).
But happily we can look forward to the triumphant return of Superflyte on the 6:30pm ex-Auckland sailing (after a spate of sardine-like conditions lately), and Doug Hudson is looking forward to your comments. Leave your feedback here.
You really have to be stupid not to think that the point of catastrophic breakdown of the ferry system in Auckland, i.e. when there are simply not enough vessels to meet the demand, is not far off and that the company is derelict in its investment plans for new capacity. The tragedy is that there is simply no mechanism or regulation in place to ensure that Waiheke is not economically strangled by this private profiteering monopoly company.
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