What ever happened to the New Manly Ferry Services

Care to guess how long the four freshwater class ferries' predecessors had been in service for?

Oh, bugger it, here's the basics:

Bellubera: 1910 - 1973
South Steyne: 1938 - 1975
Baragoola: 1922 - 1982
North Head: 1913 - 1985
(Others had shorter lives, and the Lady class ferries did play a role on the Manly route from around the time of the unceremonious decommissioning of the South Steyne until the arrival of the Queenscliff and the Narrabeen, but AFAIK the above were the mainstays of the regular speed service in the private operators' years (Port Jackson & Manly til 1972; then Brambles til 1974) and the early UTA/STA years)

cf the current ferries
Freshwater: 1982 -
Queenscliff: 1983 -
Narrabeen: 1984 -
Collaroy: 1988 -

I'd say the Freshwater class has a loooooong way to go yet.

Here's a shot of the interior of the Collaroy that I took yesterday. This has been repeated across the Freshwater class. The wooden floors attempt to recreate the interior it's predecessors had and the seating is stylish. The objective of the interior refurbishment was really to recreate the experience of travelling on the Manly Ferry in the way it was in previous generations.



This is how the Manly ferries look at present. Notice the tinted windows and external decks compared with before

Before



After



And Trances here's a shot of a Supercat which were supposed to succed the jetcat. the now operate on the Watsons Bay run



I also have to critise the supercats for the amount of water that was splashing onto the outdoor deck at the rear of the boat (the one on the main level). It was like it was raining (when really it wasn't)

MrPC said:

Yes, but by the time you get the third Jetcat loaded and underway, the first one has probably made a round trip and could then make a fourth run (i.e. 100%).

Click to expand...

To ensure that they depart on time in such situations they allow people to board the jetcats up to 10 minutes before departure time. I remember last year on one occassion that a jetcat was allowed to depart Manly Wharf seven minutes before it's actual departure time as it was full.

They will fill a jetcat to capacity and then allow it to leave a few minutes early as to enable the other jetcats to dock so passengers can board and to ensure that all commuters leave on time. It is common that jetcats may be docked on both sides of the wharf to ensure quick boarding with commuters being directed to the one until it's filled up

As jetcats take half the time to do the run they are replacing the last one can leave up to 10 minutes late and still get to Manly in time.They don't do round trips either upon completing their run. They have to act like the freshwater ferry. They all travel together on the "one" service.

Also they may not require all jetcats for some services they are replacing. When the Queenscliff was out, there were some off peak services that only required two jetcats with the third placed on standby.