Article: Ferries ahoy as minister pushes the boat out

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Ferries ahoy as minister pushes the boat out

Ferries ahoy as minister pushes the boat out
May 22, 2013 Jacob Saulwick
Transport Reporter

The state government will buy and build six new ferries within three years, and put on an extra 50 ferry services a week within months.

But it will not commit to building any new wharves in Sydney Harbour beyond one at Barangaroo, and it will close two infrequently-used commuter wharves in the inner-west.

    The NSW government is committed to ensuring our ferry network grows.

Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian will on Wednesday release the government's policy on ferries for the next twenty years.

The six new vessels would be the first procured by the state since 2001 when the SuperCats, which travel on routes in the eastern suburbs, entered service.

But Ms Berejiklian cannot say yet what the new ferries will look like - whether they will resemble the older ''Lady'' or ''First Fleet'' class vessels, or if they will resemble the sleeker SuperCats and RiverCat catamarans - nor what boats they will replace.

The new vessels, once they are designed and built by a naval architect to be hired by the government, will enter service in 2016.

From October, there will be a new ferry timetable to complement bus and train timetables that are also being re-written.

In the eastern suburbs, the timetable will include a more frequent and direct service from Rose Bay to Circular Quay in weekday peak hours.

Along the Parramatta River, the timetable will close the long-running practice of running Rivercats all the way to Parramatta. The Rivercats regularly fail to make Parramatta because of low tides. Weekday services will instead terminate at the next wharf east at Rydalmere, and a smaller shuttle will run between Parramatta and Rydalmere. RiverCats will continue to operate all the way to Parramatta on weekends.

An express service will run between Circular Quay and wharves further west then Chiswick on the Parramatta River.

The two wharves to be closed by the government are Balmain West and Bayview Park according to the government's figures.

The wharf at Balmain East - used by about seven times the number of people as the wharf at Balmain West - will be upgraded and will receive services from the Parramatta River as well as extra ferries to McMahons Point and Milsons Point.

The bureaucracy had been investigating the possibility of opening a raft of new wharves around the harbour. Ms Berejiklian's document mentions five new locations for ''further analysis'': Rhodes, Glebe Point, Johnstons Bay, Woolloomooloo, and Elizabeth Bay.

The department will also consider moving the wharf at Birchgrove, and there will be a new commuter wharf at Barangaroo.

"The NSW government is committed to ensuring our ferry network grows with the increase in commuters and tourists," Ms Berejiklian said.