Labour’s ferry fares to ‘cost 30 p.c. more’

Press, 9 November 1978, Page 1

Labour’s ferry fares to ‘cost 30 p.c. more’

By

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor

Fares on British ferries of the size proposed by the Labour Party for the Wellington-Lyttelton service would, if applied on a comparative basis in New Zealand, mean an increase of about 30 per cent on the existing cost of travelling from Christchurch to Wellington via Picton,

Labour has announced its intention to introduce, I" it becomes the Government, “ships similar to those operating between Ireland and Liverpool, and across the English Channel.”

Two ferries link Liverpool and Dublin with daily sailings that take about seven hours. The Munster (4230 tons) can carry 1000 passengers and the Leinster (4850 tons), 1200 passengers.

The one-way fare for passengers (as at August 1) was £l3 w’hich, on Tuesday’s exchange rate, cor verted to about $24.30. If a similar ship is introduced on what would be a similar service (300 km and seven hours) between Wellington and Lyttelton, a similar fare structure would almost certainly apply. But at <524.30, the trip would cost $7.60 more than it now costs to travel from Christchurch to Wellington by train and Cook Strait ferry.

Motorists would save even more by driving to Picton. The cost of shipping a medium-sized car with three passengers across the Irish Sea in August was $ll6 (£62.50). The comparative rate on the Cook Strait service is $54.30, leaving a balance of $61.70 to more than cover running expenses between Christchurch and Picton. Most of the ferries that cross the English Channel are in the 3000 to. 4000 ton range and carry between 1000 and 1400 passengers. Their rates are also high. The two-hour crossing from Dover to Boulogne costs $14.93 (£8). A smallsized car with three passengers cost $78.43 (£42)

but the same car and passengers could cross from Wellington to Picton, which is almost twice the distance, for $30.40. British Rail runs three ferries on a four-hour crossing between Newhaven and Dieppe. The cost for a small car and three passengers on this service is $89.63 (£4B). If the same family is in a large vehicle it will pay $108.30 (£5B). It is difficult to compare existing rates overseas with those that applied to a different type of ferry two years ago, but when the Rangatira was withdrawn in October, 1976, the charge for carrying a medium-sized car from Lyttelton to Wellington was $36. Passenger fares depended on the standard of cabin, but they ranged from $lB to $27.

The ferries proposed by the Labour Party would “provide aircraft-type saloon seating rather than the more expensive cabins operated in the Rangat;ra.”

Advising in a Canterbury newsletter that it would introduce tw’o ships “travelling each way, each day,” Labour considers the new service would be cheaper to run and main-

tain than that provided by a single vessel.

However, Mr Rowling was reported in “The Press” of November 2 as saying that only one ship would be introduced.

On that basis, the ferry would probably sail from Lyttelton on alternate days and would provide a total two-way capacity for about 34,000 passengers a month if a vessel akin to one in the Irish Sea fleet was to be introduced.

The Rangatira carried during its final peak months 19,646 in December 1975, 28,560 in January 1976, and 13,985 in February.

That total — 62,191 — would leave a peak-quar-ter deficit of 40,000 for a ferry of the size proposed. Should two ships be brought into service, past figures indicate they would be working at barely 30 per cent of the total passenger capacity. While the ferry remains but an election hope for the Labour Party, it already clearly exists in the eyes of an American journalist. In the “Seattle Times” of October 1, Jeffrey Robinson, in the “Christian Science Monitor,” says: “You get to Christchurch from Wellington by direct ferry, a lovely trip as the boat slowly chugs along the east coast of South Island. . .”