Coochie ferry future in jeopardy; island residents to pay full fare despite TransLink 50¢ deal
Coochiemudlo and Stradbroke Island residents will be some of the few across Queensland to miss out on the 50c cheap travel fares which start on Monday. Here’s why
Redlands Coast
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The Coochiemudlo ferry operator says island residents have been hung out to dry and are being unfairly excluded from next week’s 50c public transport concession.
Amity Trader ferry owner and operator Steve Wallace said to discounted fares would not apply on ferry or barge services to the island even though his service was part of the TransLink network.
“The excuse that the state government gave for not extending the deal to Coochie was that we do not have the Tap and Go payment system on the boats and we are not a TransLink-branded service,” Mr Wallace said.
“We do not have a management agreement like the bigger operators even though we are providing a public service to the island.
“That means that we will not get compensated if we dropped our fares to 50c and we could not afford to run the boats for that price.
“Big operators have contracts and get paid the same amount from the state no matter what the fare is so perhaps now is the time for the government to start thinking about a management agreement to run the Coochie ferry.
“Through Covid we had to keep running the services to Coochie even though nobody was catching the ferry and we lost a lot of money because there was no management agreement.
“I feel for the people of Coochie, who seem to have been hung out to dry over the cheap fare deal.”
Mr Wallace is also in negotiations with the local Redland City Council over its latest increases to landing fees on the island and at Victoria Point.
Monday’s fare discount will apply to all mainland buses and ferries within the TransLink system but excludes privately-operated services such as the ferries to Coochiemudlo and North Stradbroke Island.
Unlike services to the four bay islands of Russell, Macleay, Karragarra and Lamb, ferry services to Coochiemudlo and Dunwich on Straddie, are not TransLink-branded services.
Coochiemudlo Progress Association president Elizabeth Rankin said Coochie residents who regularly used the ferry or barge would be out of pocket by about $1300 over the six months of the cheap fare.
She said island residents were furious that they would still have to pay the standard fare of $54.40 for a weekly return ticket, which would add up to $1360 over six months.
“This is in stark contrast to mainland public transport users who will pay just $130 over the six months for travel Monday to Friday,” Ms Rankin said.
“It is an astonishing penalty imposed on the island’s residents, many of whom are fixed-income seniors and will struggle with the escalating costs of living.”
Coochiemudlo Island resident Roxanne Algeo said instead of island residents getting the discounted fares, they were facing fare increases and reduced ferry times because of the council’s exorbitant landing fees and rises in fuel costs and labour.
“It is sadly so unfair because the Amity Trader has continued to be squeezed between increasing costs with Redland City Council landing fees of $247,000 per annum and heading to $320,000 per annum, Ms Algeo said.
“The operator is also facing rises in fuel costs, wages and restrictions on fares which are controlled by the Department of Transport.
“If a cost-efficient solution cannot be found, then the ferry service will go out to tender and it’s very likely there will be both substantial increases in fares and reduction of services.”
North Stradbroke Island residents will also miss out on the cheap fares.
Tourists to the island mecca and residents will continue to pay $106 for a one-way trip for a car on the barge from Toondah Harbour, $11 on the North Stradbroke Island ferry, and $12 on the Stradbroke Flyer.
Bus fares on the island are set to drop to $1 return, but since the buses do not accept Go Cards, the concession will not apply to them.
Straddie Chamber of Commerce president Colin Battersby said the cheap fares would have boosted tourism to the island which has struggled to fill the economic void since sand mining ended in 2020.
He said the state government and the local Redland City Council had failed to encourage more people to use public transport on the islands, where the council had recently restricted parking at the Dunwich ferry terminal to 12 hours.
“The islands aren’t considered the same as the mainland and therefore the governments do not provide the same standard of services be it transport, waste management or any other service that would be expected,” Mr Battersby said.
“We were not even considered part of Redland City in a recent TMR state government survey.
“There is no appetite for change by TMR and new Redland City Council parking rules in Dunwich will rule out most people on the island using public transport at all because there will be no parking at the ferry terminal for them to leave their car.”
Stradbroke Flyer owner John Groom has advocated for the inclusion of his ferry services in the TransLink network.
He argued that the absence of a proper long-term parking solution for Straddie visitors and residents, coupled with the lack of a unified fare system, showed a broader neglect of the islands’ transport infrastructure.
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