An aerial view of Omokoroa wharf, where a new ferry service will start from. Photo / WBOPDC
An aerial view of Omokoroa wharf, where a new ferry service will start from. Photo / WBOPDC
A weekly Tauranga Harbour ferry service will launch later this month as part of a concerted effort to get more people using alternative modes of transport.
The ferry service will run between Ōmokoroa, Tauranga CBD and Mount Maunganui from September 28.
The service has been created from a partnership betweenthe Wednesday Challenge, Tauranga Water Transport and Tourism Bay of Plenty and will run several services each Wednesday between 7am and 6.10pm.
Such a service has been long heralded as an alternative to motorists clogging up state highways.
Wednesday Challenge project director Heidi Hughes said they wanted to offer more transport options for people and a ferry service was one that "excited a lot of people". The challenge team was also looking for a sponsor for the service.
"It's giving people ideas of different ways to commute," she said.
Wednesday Challenge director Heidi Hughes is looking forward to launching a ferry service as part of the campaign to get fewer cars on Tauranga roads. Photo / George Novak
Hughes said that while the ferry pilot was "little" it was hoped to help establish a foundation from which a permanent public ferry service could potentially work if the demand was there.
"It takes a long time for people to build up their habits. If people want a ferry, they should support this. We are going to need this to be successful to be a pilot to show that a ferry service is worthwhile for Tauranga. That's part of what we are doing it for."
Hughes admitted the challenge team and Tauranga Water Transport were effectively "taking a punt".
But indications are that the interest was there.
"We have had a lot of people talking about it and also quite a few people interested in taking groups from retirement villages so they could be dropped off at the end of the wharf and take an excursion."
Early-bird fares for adults travelling from Ōmokoroa to Tauranga are $20 return or $15 one way and for children $15 return or $10 one way.
Between Tauranga and Mount Maunganui, Salisbury Wharf, the fare for an adult is $15 return or $10 one way and for children $7.50 return or $5 one way.
The fares were not subsidised as the ferry was not yet an official a public transport service.
If it were to be adopted as one, then fares would be subsided and made markedly more affordable, Hughes said.
The ferry launch comes as the Wednesday Challenge enters its seventh month.
Labour Party list MP Angie Warren-Clark is looking forward to using a ferry service launching in Tauranga later this month. Photo / George Novak
In that time, more than 15,000 people have signed up, with 1000 a week in each of the last three weeks alone.
"We are actually blown away," Hughes said.
That's 10 per cent of the city is actively participating in this. It's quite a significant number of the population. If we have 30,000 participating, that would be 20 per cent of Tauranga.
The Wednesday Challenge aims to get 20 per cent of Tauranga to use alternative modes of transport for one day a week to make "tangible change" in the city.
"Things will literally feel different with fewer cars on the road, more people walking, cycling, streets will be safer because more people are out there. Buses will have more people on them. That will make them feel a lot more safe and there will be a flow-on effect from there."
Bay of Plenty Labour list MP Angie Warren-Clark said she was keen to use the service and planned to as part of her role "as a buddy MP in the Coromandel area" in Ōmokoroa.
"It's exciting to think I don't have to drive. I can take the ferry up and take the ferry down and not have to worry about the traffic," Warren-Clark said.
"We have so many single-occupancy cars going from Ōmokoroa down to Tauranga and back. That traffic is pretty bad. So travelling by ferry and not in a car and being able to enjoy the sea air, read a book and just relax, it'll just be lovely."
Tourism Bay of Plenty head of strategy and insights Stacey Linton said it was keen to support anything that made it easier and more environmentally sustainable for people to get around. A ferry would offer an "interesting alternative" for commuters, day trippers and holidaymakers, she said.
A ferry service used to operate between Mount Maunganui and Tauranga for many years.
Linton said that the service was particularly popular with families and summer visitors "and we believe they will enjoy using this new service too."
• More information, and tickets, are available on the Wednesday Challenge website. Tauranga and Mount Maunganui i-Site visitor centres can also sell tickets.
