Photo: Supplied / Auckland Transport
Auckland ferry commuters are angry their ferry service could still be facing the chopping block.
Auckland Transport is commissioning an independent study on transport options for the Whangaparāoa Peninsula - including considering whether to keep the ferry, despite backlash from the community.
O Mahurangi Penlink, a new 7km highway connecting the Whangaparāoa Peninsula to State Highway One, is set to open in late 2026.
Auckland Transport network planner Dave Hilson said it will create a more direct connection to State Highway 1 and the city.
"What we need to do is review our existing public transport services, the network on the Peninsula, and see if we need to make changes as a result of that, in order to benefit more people from public transport."
There are three scenarios out for feedback until 1 December.
The first is the same bus and ferry services running more often, and the second is a new transport station served by the northern express NX2 bus, with frequent bus services to Gulf Harbour - but no ferry.
The third option is a combination - keeping the Gulf Harbour ferry and the new station with frequent busses, but without the NX2 bus.
Whangaparāoa resident Glenn Taylor said the Gulf Harbour ferry was used by everyone east of Stanmore Bay.
"I mean yes, people do use buses, but it's very easy for us to jump in our car, drive down to the Hammerhead, park your car up free of charge all day long, jump on a ferry. Five minutes in a car, fifty minutes in a ferry. We don't use buses."
In 2023, the Regional Land Transport Plan included a proposal to end the ferry.
The proposal was withdrawn from the final plan after backlash, and Auckland Transport committed to the independent Whangaparaoa Transport Study, to inform a decision for the future of public transport to the Peninsula - and the ferry - by 2025.
Taylor said to be surveyed again was just annoying, after over 1000 people submitted against it ending last year.
"We've already made these submissions, and it's been mentioned enough times and commented on enough times, that people are saying, we've just done this. We want the ferries, full stop. There's a sense of, are they even listening to us?"
Albany councillor John Watson said the 2023 proposal received an overwhelming response.
"The community made it really clear to [Auckland Transport] then - they valued their service, they wanted to hold onto it, and there's a real feeling now that, here they are back again, trying to circumvent that near-unanimous opposition to closing the ferry service down."
Watson said the ferry was part of the fabric of life on the Peninsula.
"This study is a very expensive resource, an intensive study that's going right along Whangaparāoa now, when they already know their answer - they know people want to hold onto their ferry."
Hilson said the ferry was not changing until the contract to run it ends in 2028, but the study's aim was to find cost-effective options for the whole peninsula.
"All feedback is taken into account. I mean from a personal point of view - I wouldn't be doing this, unless we were going to. It's not a tick-box exercise."
He said nothing was set in stone, and the study's three options will change depending on feedback.
Auckland Transport is running five drop in sessions for the study over the next week - the first at the Gulf Harbour Marina at 5pm on Wednesday 13 November.
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