Fullerswatch

Request for information

2012-01-23T15:54:00.000+13:00

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.

Captain Pugwash at the helm

2012-01-07T07:17:00.001+13:00

Starflyte on the Friday 6:30pm forgot to pull into Devonport. He realised it mid-channel so a sharp 180-degree turn followed. His cheery announcement at the start of the journey that we'd be on Waiheke in 35mins was a little optimistic. It took an hour.

The 180-min journey to work

2012-01-05T23:17:00.007+13:00

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:

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.

Fullers apologises to its Waiheke customers

2011-12-11T16:55:00.000+13:00

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.

The joys of the Outer Link

2011-12-04T16:18:00.001+13:00

I found myself inadvertently catching the Outer Link bus from Pt Chevalier to Balmoral (the southern part of the route) and then the next day from Balmoral to the CBD. It's a brand new line with brand new buses so I was glad to try it out. There was no waiting time at the Pt Chev bus stop, the bus had arrived there before I did, so all good. The frequency stated by Maxx is about every 15mins, which I guess in Auckland's bus system is not bad at all - especially on the weekend. It chugged along happily but at frequent intervals there was an announcement that the bus may be waiting a few minutes at some bus stops to prevent it getting too much out of whack with its timetable. This makes for a very slow frustrating progress. It took about 40mins to get from Pt Chev to Balmoral and about 30mins to get to downtown. If you're in Balmoral, it may be faster to catch a Mt Eden bus route.
As you can see in the route diagram, there are some curious "kinks" in the route, i.e. where deviations into side streets happen instead of going straight through. Why there is this lengthy detour through Mt Eden to end up again on Balmoral Road is a mystery to me. Hardly anyone got off or on in that deviation, and it just added to the travel time.
Being a Saturday, I thought it was very well patronised, and best of all, it's free for Waiheke Fullers monthly pass holders (as are the other Link services).

Summertime snafus starting early

2011-12-02T21:20:00.004+13:00

The afternoon started ominously with a txt message from Fullers advising that the 17:00 and 18:30 ex-Auckland would be run by Jet Raider. My last experience on that boat didn't end well so I was dreading the worst for getting home in any reasonable amount of time. And again, Fullers didn't disappoint in that department. Superflyte was doing the normal Quickcat services, as Quickcat was chartered for a party on the harbour cruise: the seats were piled high on the wharf to make way for dancing punters. Fullers, being a fully private company unbeholden to its daily paying customers, has the right to take boats out of commuting service when it has the chance of making far more per charter passenger than from those pesky, complaining commuters.

At 18:00 came another txt advising that the 17:40 ex-Waiheke was cancelled (JR came back from Waiheke late and empty). The girl on the wharf tannoy tried to keep our spirits up by announcing the ferry was "about 10 minutes late". Of course Fullers time has no link to real time and we left 20mins late.

Of course, this being Friday and Summertime, the 18:30 sailing has to go via Devonport, come what may, being late or not, having crashed into the Devonport wharf before or not, Fullers' internal infernal route and timetabling has to be obeyed, and off we chugged to Waiheke.
Jet Raider was going suspiciously slow and we arrived about 19:45 at Matiatia, shortly followed by the 19:15 Superflyte. Again, Jet Raider left Waiheke empty. I innocently asked a staff member behind the bar why the boat went at half speed and she was offended by the suggestion that I noticed something like that. She was adamant the boat went full speed but was delayed by the number of passengers.
It's a sign capitalism is based on fear when you can get your employees on the minimum wage to lie and do your PR for you.
It doesn't bode well for the rest of the Summer, but we know our place and the live sheep shipments will blithely continue.

But a good thing that happened and kept the frustrated waiting punters' spirits up on Matiatia wharf was a flash mob carol singalong by V12 and Sister Shout:

A faux discount

2011-11-19T22:06:00.000+13:00

For the December and January months, Fullers has offered a $25 discount on the $350 monthly passes, which is about 7%. The reason, ostensibly, is to encourage you to keep on buying a pass instead of pondering alternatives because you may work fewer days in those months. What it certainly is not do is offer compensation for the crappy service over the last few months: Jet Raider still out of service, and some big boats replaced by smaller boats, to get that lovely feeling of being packed in like sardines. Pathetic.

Jet Raider's disastrous return to service

2011-11-09T15:35:00.001+13:00

Jet Raider's return to service lasted less than a day with hastily replacements from this morning. The little boat,s such as Starflyte and Adventurer, are now doing the Superflyte service in pairs while Superflyte takes over Quickcat's runs. I don't know where Quickcat has gone. As I said before, they should have taken the opportunity to scuttle the Jet Raider after its August mid-channel breakdown.

International ferry fare comparison update

2011-09-12T16:35:00.001+12:00

In August 2008 and October 2010 we did research into various ferry fares around the world. So we are now doing an update and comparison over 3 years.
The Waiheke ferry is still up there among the most expensive in the world, not really a change there. What has changed is an increase in the number of integrated ticketing systems available for all transport modes within a geographical region – even in so-called developing countries like Turkey - something we are still waiting for in Auckland.

Service	Aug 2008	Oct 2010	Sep 2011	Ride length	Notes
Auckland-Waiheke (NZ)	$344	$330	$350 $19 a trip	35mins	Valid for Waiheke ferry, bus and selected Auckland bus services
Wellington-Eastbourne* (NZ)	$245	$252	$252	20mins
Seattle-Vashon (USA)	US$118/$166	US$3.75/$4.90 a trip	US$3.75/$4.60 a trip	22mins	Orca card prepay
West Seattle-Vashon (USA)	US$55/$78	US$53.50/$70.30	US$3/$3.67 a trip	10mins	Orca card prepay
Seattle-Kingston (USA)		US$275/$361.50	US$250/$305.85 for 40 rides	50mins	Limited service
San Diego-Coronado* (USA)	Free	Free	Free	15mins
New York-Staten Island* (USA)	Free	Free	Free	25mins
Sydney ferries* (AUS)	A$1,280/$1,562 to A$2,200/$2,684 a year	A$41/$53.70 to A$57/$74.40 a week	A$42.20/$53.58 to A$52.80/$67.03 for 10 rides
Boston ferries* (USA)	US$198/$279	US$198/$260.30	US$198/$242.23		All mode travel
Alameda-Oakland* (USA)	US$170/$240	US$170/$223.50	US$170/$207.98	20mins	40 rides within one month
Hong Kong Star Ferry* (HK)	HK$110/$20	HK$125/$21.20	HSK$125/$19.61	9mins
Vancouver Translink (CAN)	C$73/$99 to C$136/$184	C$81/$106.60 to C$151/$198.70	C$81/$99.18 to C$151/$184.90		Zone based, all travel modes
Maine Portland (USA)	US$87/$123.50 to US$127.50/$181	US$82.45/$108.40 to US$125.15/$164.50	US$82.45/$100.87 to US$125.15/$153.11		Various islands
Isle of Wight (UK)	£150.80/$392	£163/$343.70	£171.50/$332.52	22mins
Vlissingen-Breskens* (NL)		€69.50/$130	€69.50/$115.53	20mins
Den Helder-Texel (NL)		€30/$55	€30/$49.87	20mins	15 return tickets on OV- chipcard
Istanbul ferries*			TL1.75/$1.18 a trip		Istanbul card

Notes: All prices are for monthly passes and ferry travel only, unless stated otherwise. The exchange rates are at Aug 2008, Oct 2010 and Sep 2011.
* denotes not an island service, passengers have other (land-based) transport options.

"Fast, reliable and cheap". Yeah, right

2011-09-08T12:56:00.001+12:00

An interesting article in the NZ Herald on the length of time of commuting by car; and the dearth and cost of public transport costing Auckland a higher ranking in the world of liveable cities.

Auckland has again been rated bottom of a class of 14 cities for the average number of public transport trips taken annually by its residents.
They took an average of just 44 trips a year, compared with 74 trips by Wellingtonians, 124 by Melbourne residents and 168 by those in Ottawa.
The report noted that Auckland's public transport patronage has risen 8.5 per cent since the study.
Aucklanders also paid the highest average fares of the surveyed cities, of 24c for every kilometre travelled, compared with 17c in Wellington and 11c in Perth.

To which we can easily answer: you city dwellers in Auckland have got it sweet. We, Waihekeans (and you poor tradies trotting over to the island every morning), pay $1 per kilometre travelled.
That's the price we pay for a private monopoly. "Public transport" is an alien concept on the Waitemata.

Jet Raider evacuation

2011-08-27T19:13:00.003+12:00

I happened to be on board the Jet Raider on Sunday 11am ex-AKL with 315 other passengers. It was a glorious Spring-like morning with just a whispery breeze on the harbour. In the middle of the Motuihe Channel the vessel came to a shuddering halt, with the loss of all engine power. This was not something I have experienced before, as most other instances of failure I have endured only affected one of the engines. The ship drifted, spun round its axle and the captain came on the tannoy saying there would be another vessel alongside shortly to take us to Waiheke. No mention of the cause of the failure, we had to hear that from another staff member who told a passenger.
Starflyte, and later SuperFlyte plus the Coast Guard, turned up and after some manoeuvering (and the dropping of Jet Raider's anchor about 20 minutes after the stop) evacuation of all passengers could begin. All managed to jump on - I'm not sure what the legal capacity limit of Starflyte is but 316 passengers (and those already on board) made for a packed sailing.

This could have had the potential of a major disaster had the breeze been much stiffer: we drifted towards Motuihe and its reef quite markedly in the balmy conditions. Hell knows what would have happened trying to get everybody off Jet Raider in much more trying circumstances (let alone foundered on rocks). It took about half an hour of orderly evacuation as it was. Imagining we had to get off in a panic is the stuff of nightmares.

I trust the Maritime Safety Authority will have a word about this. Scuttling Jet Raider afterwards was an opportunity missed to get rid of the thing.

Press coverage:
New Zealand Herald
Sunday Star Times
Sunday News
Radio New Zealand

August misery par for the course

2011-08-25T10:20:00.000+12:00

August turned out to be another miserable month for Fullers. Both Quickcat and Superflyte (barely back from their surveys) have suffered "unplanned maintenance" outages - Fullers-speak for trainee diesel engineers on the minimum wage patching things up with #8 wire. No sign of a September fare discount though. Must be all those (non-monthly pass holder) protesters who didn't get one last time.

Fullers keeps Whangarei engineering firm in business

2011-08-09T16:13:00.002+12:00

From the Northern Advocate:

Barge building is providing one Whangarei engineering firm with a welcome boost to business - and 15 extra jobs. [...] It has also been kept busy lately repairing Auckland's Fullers' ferry fleet.
"There's been a whole schedule of repairs over the last year, one after the other, so it's been good," said [co-owner Glenn] Heape.

A steady stream of returning vessels queuing to get surveyed, serviced and repaired over and over again. It's been a another Winter of Discontent on the Waitemata. And another groundhog day.
But with international oil prices falling to almost 12 month lows, sky high fares and muddling through with overloaded small boats, Fullers carries no risk in providing the profits.

Waiheke campaigns against ferry fare increases

2011-08-03T17:11:00.000+12:00

Thank you, Scott Ewing, for the excellent video. This encapsulates what this blog and campaign for fair ferry fares are all about.

Auckland Transport official response

2011-07-13T10:44:00.001+12:00

Remember the case of a Supergold Card fare being issued by a Waiheke Bus Co driver to a passenger who was not 65 nor had a Supergold Card?
Now Auckland Transport Public Transport Operations Manager Mark Lambert finally got round to mailing me an official response:

Auckland Transport requested a copy of Fullers investigation into the incident that occurred in March 2011. I can advise that an independent company investigator from Wellington conducted two days of covert observations on Waiheke Island. During that period, no evidence of fraudulent driver activity was identified.
An interview with the driver in question was conducted and it was concluded that the error occurred due to an inattention detail and poor technique with the use of the Wayfarer (ticketing) equipment.
As a consequence, the Waiheke Bus Company manager has spoken to all drivers to reiterate the correct process for the issue of Super Gold card tickets.
I can confirm that, as part of its Contract Management process, Auckland Transport continuously monitors all Public Transport operator declaration regarding patronage and financial claims made under the concessionary fare reimbursement scheme.
In addition, Auckland Transport administers and monitors the regional declarations made by Public Transport operators as part of the national SuperGold card free travel scheme introduced in October 2008.
In support of this, periodic financial and patronage audits are made across all participating operators.
The audit review seeks to validate the integrity of the supplied data through the following process:
1. Historical trend analysis of patronage movements by contract, route and passenger type.
2. Sample testing of operator daily sales records and reconciliation by monthly declarations.
3. Sample testing of operator on board supervisor/inspector ticketing services.
4. A sample of unannounced observations is made to monitor the validity of the ticket issue process.
5. Auckland Transport conducts regular Mystery Traveller surveys across all operators to monitor customer service and satisfaction levels. These surveys include correct ticket issue for fare tendered.
6. Auckland Transport continuously monitors customer complaints to identify any abnormal trends and actively requests operators to investigate individual cases.
7. Auckland Transport may conduct an independent investigation upon circumstance.

So, good news, but vigilance remains the by-word. The issuing of correct fares will become less problematic under the HOP scheme, and my hope is that this should see the SuperGold Card integrated into it too. Auckland Transport expects all operators to have become members of the HOP system by the end of 2012.

Winter mishaps

2011-07-07T11:41:00.000+12:00

It's that time of year again - living on Waiheke and being faced with Fullers is like Groundhog Day - when the Winter misfortunes beset Fullers. On 6 July we had the undignified crash bang fest featuring Jet Raider and the Devonport Wharf. Then a mechanical failure on Superflyte. And to top it off, Quickcat, freshly returned from its annual survey where she's been presumably prodded more than a hooker on K Road, lost power to one engine on the 6.30pm AKL-YHK run.

CBD bus route changes

2011-07-06T14:05:00.002+12:00

Auckland Transport released the new bus map for the inner city with all the new routes they consulted on in the past few months. For ferry users there will now be a City Link bus from Wynyard Quarter to K Road (it may not be a very fast route as it will still be stuck in the Queen St traffic swamp). But the Central Connector may become a faster route to Newmarket than the Inner Link. Route 30 to Grey Lynn, taking over from the old 035, moves to Albert St instead of Queen St.

Draft Local Board Plan 2011

2011-07-05T15:54:00.001+12:00

The Waiheke Local Board Draft Plan has been released for consultation starting on 8 July. Submissions need to be in by 8 August.
This is what it has to say about transport:

Fast ferry services to and from the Auckland Central Business District have both encouraged economic growth on Waiheke Island over the past two decades (in 2009, there were 2,039 people employed in 1,191 businesses on the Island) and created a significant commuter population (approximately 1,200 people commute to the mainland for work).
However, the relatively high cost of ferry services adversely affects residents and commuters and may become a major problem if fares continue to rise. It also has the potential to impact on visitor numbers with negative consequences for the local economy and employment. However, the introduction of the New Zealand Goldcard free travel system has boosted the number of older people traveling to Waiheke Island.

We will advocate to Auckland Transport about the high costs of ferry services, which are due to the lack of subsidies for the privately owned services. We will advocate for the introduction of a subsidy as we recognise the effect increasing fares have on the local community, visitors and the local economy. We want to see Waiheke public transport services (ferry and bus) included in the Auckland Transport integrated ticketing scheme. In order to encourage increased bus patronage we will advocate for a series of linking, cross-island, feeder routes for smaller buses.
We will advocate, in the interests of local and regional development, for transport links and adequate wharves to provide better access to and around the Hauraki Gulf Islands.
We acknowledge the prosperity brought to Waiheke by our relationship with the city and will actively work to preserve and enhance this.

There are some long-advocated Fullerswatch points there, including fare rise concerns, subsidies and integrated ticketing.

Local Board meeting 9 June 2011

2011-06-09T15:53:00.005+12:00

On the Local Board agenda for a meeting on 9 June I found this:

Matiatia Wharf Tax

A board enquiry about where the wharf tax money is held and the policy around its use. Are the funds used to improve regional facilities?

Auckland City Council (ACC) traditionally collected a charge for its ferry assets involved in public transport. ACC had more recently reviewed and negotiated a rate for wharves revenue with operations of 52 cents per travelling passenger. This income from every individual passenger was chargeable at all ACC controlled public transport sites across the Gulf Islands. The income generated by this is directed back into all Gulf island sites (Waiheke, Great Barrier and Rakino) for maintenance and general upkeep. It is worth noting that this income does not cater for renewals or replacements of any infrastructure after the given life cycle of a particular site. It is now acknowledged that this income represents a considerable and rather sizable under-recovery against all these asset sites (my emphasis)

Does this mean they are planning to up the wharf tax?
There is still no mention where the past paid money (is it still in dispute with Fullers?) is or has gone to.

Fullers bidding for the Sydney ferries contract

2011-06-02T13:38:00.000+12:00

From Radio New Zealand:

New Zealand ferry operator Fullers is one of 28 companies to have registered interest in the running Sydney's ferry service.
The New South Wales Government plans to have a private ferry operator in place by the end of next year, but will retain control of the fare structure and routes.
The Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Capital, and Manly Fast Ferry are among the Australian companies to have registered.
British firm, Serco, which runs the new Mt Eden jail in Auckland, has also registered its interest.
New South Wales transport minister, Gladys Berejeklian says the interest is encouraging, because only 10 firms applied during an aborted franchise process in 2008.
She says the organisation hasn't been well managed for a decade, while the private sector has demonstrated its ability to efficiently run other transport services in Australia.

When will the Auckland Council grow the balls to implement a similar structure here, retaining control of fares and routes?

Diesel price down

2011-05-30T12:27:00.003+12:00

From AA Petrolwatch:

Fuel prices have fallen for the fourth time in a fortnight, with petrol and diesel both dropping 3 cents per litre on 24 May. This follows a 4 cent/litre reduction on 22 May, a 3c/l drop on the 16 May and a 6c/l drop on 9 May – the first price reduction since August 2010.

The listed diesel retail price is $1.48 on 26 May, the same level as on 4 March. So why aren't the Fullers fares back at March levels now that their main argument for the recent price hike has been sinking? Could it be that Fullers is being used as a cash cow by Souter Holdings to finance its US$861 million investment in a Turkish ferry company?

UPDATE from AA Petrolwatch news release:

Prices drop for first time in 8 months

May was a month of extreme contrasts, with petrol prices hitting their highest ever level and then falling for the first time since August 2010.

“May began ominously with petrol prices reaching an all-time record high of $2.22 per litre, but within days prices began tumbling due to lower commodity prices and a rising exchange rate,” says AA PetrolWatch spokesperson Mark Stockdale.

After 91 octane petrol rose to $2.22 per litre in the main centres in early May, prices fell four times during the month to end on $2.06 per litre. The price of diesel also fell 16 cents to $1.48 per litre at most outlets by month end.

Uncanny

2011-05-12T13:55:00.000+12:00

Amazing how Fullers always manages to mothball Superflyte for maintenance when nor-easterly stormy weather is looming. Must be to ensure maximal discomfort of passengers: Wednesday's 5pm ex Auckland and 5.45pm ex-Waiheke sailings cancelled and a bumpy fairground-like ride on Jet Raider.

Superflyte out of action

2011-05-10T16:49:00.001+12:00

Fullers text alerted to maintenance needed on Superflyte so it will be off the run for two weeks (and shall we hold our breath it will be back in a fortnight?). Jet raider, as usual, will do the runs instead. Pity none of that $861m for Istanbul Ferries is coming our way.

UPDATE: Superflyte was back on the water 15 days later .

Ferry patronage up to March 2011

2011-04-27T12:27:00.002+12:00

The monthly patronage figures are out. Spectacular growth in March where in other years the end of Summer sag usually starts. Must be all those oldies going for a free daytrip.
April and May will be more interesting to see the effect of the April price hike. As seen in September last year it can affect passenger numbers drastically.

The Winter breakdowns start early, part 2

2011-04-26T14:14:00.003+12:00

From a passenger: The 6.40am Waiheke to Auckland trip on Superflyte was 10 minutes late arriving in town as there was a breakdown involving one engine this morning.
Some time later there was a text from Fullers saying that the 8am dep from Waiheke was running 20 min late because of a breakdown.
Guess they flogged them over Easter and did not give them the necessary maintenance.

The 8am ex-Auckland was indeed 20 minutes late this morning, they had to swap Superflyte with Jetraider and it tuk-tuk-ed into Auckland by 9am. There were a huge number of prams and parents with children on board, plus a St John's medical emergency, which made embarking and disembarking a laborious and lengthy chore. Everybody was late for work. Not a good look for being the first day of Winter. The Jetraider at least gives you enough time to meditate what your $4,200 a year is actually spent on. (Here is an idea: $861m on Turkish ferry services)