Councils float ferry plan to unclog North Shore roads

A plan for a chain of ferry wharves linking communities along Auckland's northeastern coast is gathering support.

Rodney Mayor John Law yesterday persuaded counterparts at North Shore City Council to join a move to bring back water transport as an alternative to clogging coastal highways from Auckland to Leigh.

The councils will work together on a plan for providing wharves for local ferry services with the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta) and funding provider Land Transport New Zealand.

Arta is seeking councils' ideas for ferry services as part of writing the region's first Passenger Transport Network Plan, which is due out early next year.

But Mr Law said he was not suggesting an expensive scheme to burden ratepayers.

A mixture of heritage, rebuilt and new wharves would do the job - including simple pontoon structures for about $250,000 each.

Local operators using smaller ferries and water taxis would vie to serve communities, without the need for subsidies to stay afloat.

Mr Law said this already was the case with the Sandspit-Kawau Island services in Rodney and the Paihia-Russell services in the Bay of Islands.

He said services to places in the "most beautiful harbour in the world" - the Hauraki Gulf - would pull tourists away from the traditional trip south to Rotorua.

Heading north to Rodney, they would discover Portofino, a $300 million development which the council had approved for Gulf Harbour on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.

"It's going to look like a European village, like Tuscany, Venice and Portofino in Italy."

Gulf Harbour would become a pivot of the peninsula but vessels would also bring tourists, shoppers and residents to a chain of a dozen Rodney communities, such as Scotts Landing on the Mahurangi Harbour, Warkworth, Leigh, Snells Beach and Orewa.

Mr Law's enthusiasm for a vision of "connectivity by the sea" was welcomed by Takapuna Community Board member Andrew Williams, who is leading a revival of plans to build a Takapuna Beach wharf where the boat ramp is.

He said a wharf used to occupy the site early last century and a new one could be built for less than $5 million.

"This would provide a significant alternative to congested roads."

The Browns Bay Business Association is also keen to have a ferry wharf at the gateway to its shopping centre.

Mr Williams said Arta had listed these wharves as future possibilities and North Shore had put money aside for a feasibility study.

But he said Arta and the council were looking to the next decade for construction when the wharf should be ready by 2007-08 to provide for the area's growth.

City councillor Peter White said he was disappointed at some councillors' negative attitudes towards a Browns Bay ferry service when he wanted support for a push for a service in the short- rather than long-term.

Councillor Julia Parfitt said getting resource consents for new wharves would be an obstacle, going by the residents' opposition to extending the Murrays Bay Wharf.

Rodney has two growing water transport companies, which take passengers to Hauraki Gulf islands and its harbours.

Kawau Kat Cruises has five vessels and links Sandspit and Kawau Island, Gulf Harbour-Tiritiri Matangi Island, Auckland-Coromandel and a commuter service from Gulf Harbour to Auckland, taking 45 minutes. It puts Gulf Harbour passengers on a bus if north and northeasterly winds exceed 25 knots.

Nine-year-old Reuben's Water Taxi has eight vessels.