Call for less restrictive Sydney ferry pet rules amid crackdown on dogs

A ban on passengers taking dogs on ferries has sparked backlash but experts say pet-friendly transport would help Sydney.

A crackdown on Sydney ferry passengers taking dogs with them has sparked calls for more pet-friendly public transport.

Experts say that rolling back restrictive rules on public transport would slash road traffic and bring Sydney into line with what’s permitted overseas.

It would also be a boon for all the new “Covid puppies” bought during the pandemic.

Dog lover and Neutral Bay resident Stef McLaughlin has been taking her “gentle” and “friendly” little king charles cavalier called Lukas, 2, to work three times a week on a public ferry to her HR offices near Circular Quay.

Pictured on a Sydney ferry near her home in Neutral Bay is Stef McLaughlin and her dog Lukas, 2. Picture: Richard Dobson

Ms McLaughlin has done so since February last year, and usually sits outside, with the two-year old leashed dog close by her side, after checking with ferry staff.

But on Monday she was told by a staffer there would be a “new blanket ban” on dogs travelling on ferries as of June 1.

Transport for NSW says there’s been no change to existing rules, which permit animals in carriers with “permission from the crew”, but they will be enforcing them from the start of July.

Ms McLaughlin said she’d always checked in with ferry staff if it was OK to bring Lukas, and had “never had them say no”, nor been told to put him in a carrier.

Stef McLaughlin and her dog Lukas, 2. Stef commutes by ferry to her work which is a dog friendly office and usually takes Lukas to work with her but now there’s a crackdown. Picture: Richard Dobson

“I’m always conscious not to sit too close to the people around me, but more often than not people come up and ask if they can stroke him,” Ms McLaughlin said.

Sydney University public transport expert Dr Jennifer Kent, whose previous research estimated 2.4 million dog-related trips in private cars are carried out in Sydney every week, says Australia lags behind other countries.

“In Australia, we’re really restrictive about letting people take their dogs on public transport, which is really unusual,” Dr Kent said.

“Around the world in most cities in Europe and the vast majority of those in North America dogs are entirely permitted to ride the public transport.”