Fabian
July 10th, 2005, 07:28 AM
A media article i found on a ferry forum. Don't know the source where it came from :bash:
I thought the ferries were at least providing some sort of reliable transportation here in Sydney free of the problems being experienced on other modes of transport.
THE Manly ferry service is struggling, with the ferry fleet down to just one working vessel and jetcats and buses being used to fill the gaps. Three of the four Manly ferries were out of service yesterday.
The Freshwater is being overhauled in Brisbane, the Narrabeen is being repaired after hitting a wharf at Circular Quay in May and is berthed at the NSW Maritime headquarters in Rozelle Bay, and the Collaroy was out of service after experiencing mechanical prob lems at the weekend.
Only the Queenscliff was operating yester day, with all three jetcats used in an attempt to cover the shortfall.
Sydney Ferries did not respond to questions on when the Narrabeen and Collaroy would be back in service.
Manly State independent MP David Barr said he had been told by a senior Sydney Buses figure that ``the only reason Sydney Ferries runs a good ferry service is because it relies on Sydney Buses''.
State Opposition transport spokesman Peter Debnam said: ``Sydney Ferries has been a financial basket case for years.
``Since Sydney Ferries was corporatised (in July 2004), they seem to be building up a large bureaucracy, as opposed to focusing on an efficient ferry service.
``There has been a massive recruitment for a bloated bureaucracy on the excuse it has been corporatised into a large operation but the last thing it needs is three to four layers of bureaucrats.
``The fact they're building up a large bureaucracy might explain why there has been inertia in Sydney Ferries - they're not concentrating on fleet maintenance.''
Mr Debnam said the Sydney Ferries website no longer showed the corporation's perform ance indicators. ``It's now just a blank page,'' he said.
Mr Barr said ``it's not a confidence boost to ferry services when you have three out of four ferries out of service and they can't even say when they'll be back.
I thought the ferries were at least providing some sort of reliable transportation here in Sydney free of the problems being experienced on other modes of transport.
THE Manly ferry service is struggling, with the ferry fleet down to just one working vessel and jetcats and buses being used to fill the gaps. Three of the four Manly ferries were out of service yesterday.
The Freshwater is being overhauled in Brisbane, the Narrabeen is being repaired after hitting a wharf at Circular Quay in May and is berthed at the NSW Maritime headquarters in Rozelle Bay, and the Collaroy was out of service after experiencing mechanical prob lems at the weekend.
Only the Queenscliff was operating yester day, with all three jetcats used in an attempt to cover the shortfall.
Sydney Ferries did not respond to questions on when the Narrabeen and Collaroy would be back in service.
Manly State independent MP David Barr said he had been told by a senior Sydney Buses figure that ``the only reason Sydney Ferries runs a good ferry service is because it relies on Sydney Buses''.
State Opposition transport spokesman Peter Debnam said: ``Sydney Ferries has been a financial basket case for years.
``Since Sydney Ferries was corporatised (in July 2004), they seem to be building up a large bureaucracy, as opposed to focusing on an efficient ferry service.
``There has been a massive recruitment for a bloated bureaucracy on the excuse it has been corporatised into a large operation but the last thing it needs is three to four layers of bureaucrats.
``The fact they're building up a large bureaucracy might explain why there has been inertia in Sydney Ferries - they're not concentrating on fleet maintenance.''
Mr Debnam said the Sydney Ferries website no longer showed the corporation's perform ance indicators. ``It's now just a blank page,'' he said.
Mr Barr said ``it's not a confidence boost to ferry services when you have three out of four ferries out of service and they can't even say when they'll be back.