Furious Waiheke locals, business owners and politicians unite for fairer ferry fares

Fullers and Sealink ferries dominate the Waiheke Island runs. Photo / Jason Oxenham

More than 100 Waiheke locals, business owners and supporters flocked to Matiatia Bay today to protest what they say is an “overpriced and unreliable” ferry service.

“We refuse to stand by as Fullers continues to hold our community hostage with over-priced fares and unreliable services,” a letter from community group Fairer Ferry Fares said.

The recent 19 per cent price hike makes the Waiheke ferry the most expensive in the world per kilometre, the protesters claim. Fullers360′s boss has disputed the protesters’ pricing claims.

Protest organiser and acting chairwoman of the Waiheke Local Board, Bianca Ranson, said the protest was to amplify the voice of the community and put pressure on the transport minister to include Waiheke in the Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM).

“It’s been 10 years that we have been advocating to the minister, the Government and to Fullers for fairer fares and for some kind of regulation, yet all we’ve seen is the ferry prices continue to increase,” Ranson said.

“It’s just not good enough that Waiheke is the only community that doesn’t have the benefits of subsidies to public transport in New Zealand.”

Ranson said today’s protest was a success and more than 100 people packed out the shore and waters to get their message across.

“There’s been so much effort and time and resources that have been put into trying to accomplish fairer fares, and we want the minister to stop sitting on his hands and to get on with bringing us into the PTOM.

“When we exhaust all of our options of writing to and meeting with the minister, as well as having community meetings, we are only left with one option, which is to protest,” Ranson told the Herald.

Among those flocking out in support of the protest was Auckland Central MP for the Green Party Chlöe Swarbrick, whose electorate encompasses Waiheke, and National’s candidate for the electorate, Mahesh Muralidhar.

“Residents of Waiheke have a decade of experience with the legacy of the former National government’s exclusion of our local ferry service from the Public Transport Operating Model. Those adverse consequences are evident in increasingly unaffordable fares - and the inability to access half-price fares and other Government subsidies - in disrupted services and monopoly access to the island,” Swarbrick told the Herald.

Green MP for Auckland Central, Chlöe Swarbrick. Photo / Michael Craig

Swarbrick says this weekend’s protest was just the latest in ongoing actions she is taking alongside residents frustrated by decisions that should have “never been made” in 2012.

“Following my most recent letter to the minister of transport - of the many pieces of correspondence, Official Information Act requests, meetings and Parliamentary written questions this term - and this protest, I look forward to meeting face-to-face with the minister in the next few weeks.

“As I said in that letter, there’s just a handful of Parliamentary sitting weeks left before the election, and it’s time to deliver the change that was promised when we finally managed to initiate the Order in Council process back in June 2022.”

In a statement yesterday, Fullers’ chief executive Mike Horne disputed the protesters pricing claims and said the protest could “jeopardise the health and safety of passengers”.

“We are aware of a protest event taking place on Sunday, July 16 which has the potential to cause significant travel disruptions and, more importantly, jeopardise the health and safety of passengers, community members and Fullers360 crew.”

Horne said the increased prices were for visitors travelling to Waiheke Island, not for residents or commuters using “a Fullers360 monthly pass or FlexiPass”.

Fullers CEO Mike Horne says there are increasing pressures on the service due to skill shortages. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Horne said there were increasing pressures on the service due to skill shortages, but the “services remain resilient and reliable”.

A statement from the protest organisers said Waiheke Island is more than just a playground for the rich and privileged and is a community that has the right to have accessible and affordable access to public transport.

“It is unacceptable that a private company has such control over, what should be, a public asset,” it said.

More than 50 complaints had been made to the Commerce Commission by March this year over Fullers’ ferry services.

“We have had three boatloads of people waiting in queues some weekends,” a statement from locals read. “We have had an 80-year-old asleep on the benches on the wharf as he couldn’t afford accommodation in Auckland City.”

“Our off-peak pricing, which sits at a 50 per cent discount for $29.50 return, remains and it is only our on-peak pricing for infrequent adult visitors that has increased.

Massive queues of people waiting to catch the ferry to Waiheke Island on a busy day in Auckland City last December. Photo / Dean Purcell

“We have people miss [flights], operations, dental appointments, trains, weddings, funerals, family reunions and be late for work regularly. If we can’t catch Fullers, we have to swim to Auckland.”

The residents also take issue with being excluded from the public transport subsidies Labour announced in their wellbeing Budget.

“The subsidies Waiheke has been excluded from are: children between five and 12 ride free on public transport; discounted fares for [people] up to 25 years old; plus 50 per cent off travel for Community Services Cards, [held by] our most vulnerable community members.”

The residents want the Minister of Transport David Parker to bring Waiheke into the PTOM under Auckland Transport (AT) before the election.