Extensions to Brisbane River ferry services

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> 'There's something magical about CityCats': Should they go further?

After 25 years of operation, is it time for the CityCat service to go further upstream, to better serve and promote Brisbane?

CityCats were introduced by former lord mayor Jim Soorley in 1996, after he had returned from a Sydney trip, when Greater Brisbane's population was 1.3 million.

This week's census data shows the population has almost doubled to 2.53 million, with a 22.28 per cent growth since 2011. ...

.... He welcomed the idea of investigating the merits of extending the route further upstream, but said public transport experts would have better knowledge. ...

CityCats - 1996 to now

Brisbane now has 23 CityCats in service, up from four in 1996.
There are now 21 stops along the route.
Over 21,000 passengers used the CityCats and ferries each day before the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Services are slowly returning to full capacity after the February 2022 floods.
The most recent addition to CityCat stops is at Howard Smith Wharves.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1542517170873442304

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1542885504135622657

[achiruel]

I honestly can't see any sense in extending the CityCats further upstream. The river becomes quite narrow and thus speeds would need to be even lower, not to mention how much the river meanders.

Maybe, just maybe, an extension to Yeronga (somewhere near the Brisbane Corso Reserve Park) would make sense, but not any further.

[verbatim9]

I agree no need to extend services west of Yeronga. There are other public transport priorities that council can spend money on other than extending ferry services.

[Jonno]

I agree no need to extend services west of Yeronga. There are other public transport priorities that council can spend money on other than extending ferry services.

This is nothing but a distraction from
doing the right thing for active/public transport!!

[verbatim9]

^^It's not going to happen. It's just a bit of side noise as a bit of a distraction to what is really needed.

[#Metro]

If someone wants to buy an old council catamaran and serve wine and champagne on it and go upriver that's fine. But private parties can pay for that.

There's no rationale beyond Yeronga and it's environmentally damaging as well.

[verbatim9]

That's right and they already have the Koala sanctuary ferry and other recreational party ferries that travel upstream, for those wanting a joy ride.

[achiruel]

Do we think having a stop at Yeronga is even a good idea? I'm 50/50 on it.

Yeronga Peninsula definitely needs improved service, though whether that's best achieved by a CityCat stop, extending the 196, or something else entirely is debatable. I don't think the CityCat alone would do it, because of how far it is to walk from other areas of the peninsula, but it could be a part of the solution.

[SurfRail]

Fixing the bus network is more useful.  The only big advantage would be that it would make access to UQ substantially better.

On balance I don't have a problem with a stop at Yeronga and an infill stop at Davies Park.  I see no real scope for expansion further up river, and down river only if the land use intensifies on the south bank east of Bulimba.  (No scope whatsoever for the north bank.)

And no, we don't need to run services to connect with the Tangalooma ferry, or cruise ships.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1543476055696371712

Interesting short account ' River Boats '

> https://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/10486/river_boats.pdf

Large vessels could navigate to Ipswich on the Brisbane and then Bremer rivers.

[achiruel]

^ I do wonder how much dredging was required to achieve that, though, and the level of bank erosion that was caused. Something we're probably more aware of these days than in the mid-19th century.

[ozbob]

^ I do wonder how much dredging was required to achieve that, though, and the level of bank erosion that was caused. Something we're probably more aware of these days than in the mid-19th century.

There wasn't that much dredging at the time,  the river steamers where shallow draught paddle wheelers.
But there was bank erosion.

I was based at the Army Hospital at Yeronga on and off 1960s - 1980s.  That was right on the Brisbane River, I remember the Darra Cement barge ' CEMENTCO ' going past upstream and downstream regularly.  There was some dredging for that vessel. It was large, much larger than the early river steamers.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/queenslandstatearchives/34741935350

Barge "Cementco" in Moreton Bay, 1959
Cementco started life as the Australian Army amphibious operations support ship Crusader (AV 2767) in 1945 and carried equipment between New Guinea and Australia. In 1947 she was sold to the Queensland Cement and Lime Company. Renamed Cementco, she carried dredged coral from Moreton Bay to the company's cement factory at Darra. After retirement in 1984 a buyer could not be found, so the hulk was sunk as a dive wreck at Flinders Reef off Cape Moreton in 1986.

[ozbob]

My reason for posting this stuff on the river ferries is to show there is nothing stopping the Cats going up stream, they are quite capable of getting to Ipswich.  BUT it is not environmentally sound, the river banks would be damaged as the river gets smaller and more prone to such effects.  Nor is really practical timewise etc. I think Yeronga is really the practical limit.

I hope the BT can do similar pieces on fixing the bus and rail networks!