Auckland Ferries at Breaking Point

It was a beautiful day in Auckland this morning. Here we are pulling away from Devonport ferry terminal...

...and there were a lot of us in SeaFlyte. Mostly because the scheduled 7:00 am Kea service was abruptly cancelled. This is the main cabin area which was full with about 20 standing at the rear....

...and 20 to 30 crowded into the deck area out the back. Despite the pleas of passengers - worried that the ferry was becoming over-crowded - asking deck hands why they weren't counting passengers onto the boat...

...and upstairs was full of standing passengers too - yes there are some empty seats toward the front - but I've never seen the SeaFlyte so crowded.

First indication to those of us waiting the 7:00 service was an apology over the extremely loud PA system that, "...the 7:00 service is delayed and is running 5 or 10 minutes late..."

I asked the Fullers/AT staff member what was happening and she told me that , "one of the Kea's engines hadn't started...."  but not to worry because another ferry was just arriving.

Sure enough the SeaFlyte was pulling in about 7:05. Most of us thinking it was there to replace the 7:00 service. The SeaFlyte has much less capacity than the Kea, so quickly filled with the waiting passengers. Many became anxious as the ferry waited another 5 or more minutes, and then it became obvious that it was also functioning as the 7:15 service, and was therefore waiting until that time before departing.

In effect two ferry loads of passengers were crammed into the SeaFlyte. Despite the protestations of passengers who had two reasons to complain: the first being that they were late for work (having planned on a 7:00 departure and being forced to accept a 7:15 departure); the second being that their safety appeared to be compromised be being forced to be on board a ferry which must've exceeded its maximum passenger count. This should not have been alloweed to happen.

Adding insult to injury, about halfway across the harbour we passed the Kea going the other way, ready to pick up the 7:30 commuters. Did it really have engine trouble prior to the 7:00 scheduled service?