A price war has started on the lucrative Waiheke Island summer ferry service with a new ferry operator undercutting rival Fullers’ pre-booked fare.
Island Direct is offering pre-booked return trips to Waiheke for $50, nearly half the $95 price being offered by Fullers for its new ‘Waiheke Reserve’ service.
Both services give passengers the opportunity to pre-book the date and departure time to guarantee a seat to and from the island over the hectic summer season.
When it comes to walk-on prices, Fullers charges $59 for a return journey or $54 if purchased online, and Island Direct costs $50 whether booked or not.
Fullers also offers an off-peak return fare of $29.50 for people who leave Auckland after 1pm and return after 7pm, and fares as low as about $10 for people who buy a monthly pass or 40-trip ticket.
Fullers will have a new competitor on the Waiheke Island service next month.
Island Direct is not competing on things like monthly passes but is working on concessions and talking with Auckland Transport about using Hop cards and Gold Cards as used by Fullers on the Waiheke service.
This morning, Mudbrick Vineyard & Restaurant general manager Oscar Jones said “tourism on Waiheke props up the whole island” and the new operator is a really good addition.
“Anything that helps that flow going as we head into summer is going to be seriously welcomed,” said Jones, whose family business does more than 100 weddings between October and April, has two restaurants, and is a popular venue for wine tastings and corporate events.
“There has been a situation where if you have got a wedding to attend it can be quite stressful if you are not guaranteed getting on the ferry. Having those bookable services is going to be really helpful.
“One of the issues we have seen is timing. Everyone gets here eventually, but if you have got a group of 25 who are booked for lunch and half make the 12 and half make the 1.30 you have this massive timing issue, and weddings are really time-critical events,” he said.
Jones said an additional 50 seats being offered by Island Direct might not seem much, but will definitely be good for tourism and local residents, saying it is a start and important that people support it.
Mudbrick Restaurant and Vineyard is a popular venue for weddings and wine tastings.
Island Direct is taking on Fullers’ monopoly on the island’s ferry service with a “boutique service”, said Waiheke’s David Todd.
Todd and his wife Tanya have teamed up with the Bourke family who run Hauraki Express, a water taxi and fishing charter business, to form Island Direct.
“The partnership with Hauraki Express gives us a depth of maritime expertise, backed by generations of experience operating on the Hauraki Gulf,” said Todd.
“Our focus will be entirely on our customers, providing a friendly, reliable service and delivering a high degree of value and experience.”
From November 13, Island Direct will run nine return trips a day except on Tuesdays when its 19m, 50-seater ferry is undergoing maintenance, and only six return services will run.
The new service comes after long-running tensions between Waiheke residents and Fullers over its monopoly on the busy route for islanders and visitors.
The latest flash point occurred in July when a local island lobby group refused to stand by as “Fullers continues to hold our community hostage with over-priced fares and unreliable services”.
The lobby group claimed a recent 19 per cent price hike for walk-on passengers made the Waiheke ferry the most expensive in the world per kilometre.
Fullers chief executive Mike Horne today welcomed the arrival of Island Direct, saying the competition was well overdue on the Waiheke route, which is outside the public transport system and open to all comers.
“They have thought it through and are well placed to make a success of it,” said Horne.
Fullers chief executive Mike Horne.
He said the new ‘Waiheke Reserve’ service, starting next month on ferries carrying between 160 and 200 passengers, would offer two services departing Auckland in the morning and two return services in the afternoon at the “absolute peak time” targeted at cruise ships and island tourism operators to give them certainty.
Horne did not believe Island Direct would take any business off Fullers, saying there was plenty of business when you saw the queues of people wanting to travel to and from the island over summer.
“I’m anticipating it’s going to be a really, really busy summer, and we are looking at sorts of ways to spread that load … and another competitor at that time, fantastic,” he said.
Long queues of people waited to catch the ferry to Waiheke Island during last year's Christmas break. Photo / Dean Purcell
Waiheke Island Tourism Inc chairwoman Christina Hyde said Island Direct would be particularly welcomed by tourism operators with set pick-up and drop-off times.
“Last summer a lot of operators were financially damaged by ferry sailings that were either full at peak periods where guests were unable to get on, and missed their scheduled pick-up times,” said Hyde, saying the addition of a 50-seat ferry will take the pressure off the peak period.
She said Fullers had more capacity for larger groups on its $95 service but it was great to have another option for smaller tourism operators on the island.
Hyde said islanders remembered when Explore Group ran a Waiheke service for two years before quitting in 2016, and the new service would be eagerly welcomed by residents and tourism operators.
Waiheke Local Board chairwoman Cathy Handley says she's thrilled about the new service.
Waiheke Local Board chairwoman Cath Handley was “absolutely thrilled " at the news of a new competitor to Fullers, saying, “I would welcome a third competitor as well.”
“The more the merrier as far as I’m concerned. It won’t resolve a fundamental issue for us, which is getting a public transport subsidy the way all other ferries have. It will give us more reliability of service and more choice, and be less prone to monopolistic pricing.”
She said residents had been asking for a booking system on the Waiheke ferries for a long time, but the biggest beneficiaries would be the tour companies who had schedules to meet, including bookings for lunches and wine tastings.
“Some of our tour companies have really suffered as a consequence of passengers not being able to get on boats ... and having to queue for another hour or two hours and missing whole sections of a tour,” said Handley.
