Punt skipper runs mini trial
The Westgate Punt will be running a commuter service from Monday 9 February to Friday 13 February, to gauge the possibility of bringing the commuter service back on a regular basis.
While the weekend and public holiday service has run for many years - and continues to run - the commuter service has been spasmodic since the commuter trial was concluded in June 2006. The commuter service then ran as a special service on Ride To Work Day in October of 2006, 2007 and 2008, attracting very high levels of patronage.
Over the past few weeks the punt skipper has endeavored to run the commuter service on Fridays and Mondays, on either side of the weekend service.
For further details contact Alex, the Westgate Punt skipper, on 0419 999 458.
Read the Hobsons Bay Leader article on the mini-trial.
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250 passengers get onboard
The Westgate Punt commuter service ran on Ride To Work Day on 15 October 2008 and attracted strong numbers, with 141 passengers in the morning and 107 people returning for the afternoon.
"The morning service was a record," said Andrew Davidson, spokesman for campaign group Friends of the Punt.
"The punt had never carried this many people in a service before, and the skipper was flat out to keep up with demand."
Whilst most of the commuters were heading from the Scienceworks jetty into the city, there was also a good number taking the trip from Fisherman"s bend to workplaces in the western suburbs.
A sausage sizzle breakfast was provided to celebrate the day and the launch of The Punters - Friends of the Westgate Punt, a group dedicated to researching potential models for extending the operations of the Punt in the future.
"It was great to see such an emphatic endorsement of the punt service as a commuter tool by local commuters," said Mr Davidson. "It proves that the cycling situation has changed dramatically since the commuter trial was carried out in 2005/06, when it was launched in 2005 with a Ride to Work Day totalling 104 trips.
"The dramatic increase in attendance over the years since 2005 suggests that the results of the original commuter trial, when the various authorities said the number did not support a regular service, are no longer of any relevance."
The Friends of the Punt believe that the Ride to Work Day passenger numbers of 2006, 2007 and 2008 prove that the Westgate Punt deserves consideration by government bodies as a project of real benefit to the citizens and workplaces of the west, in providing safe and direct cycling access, equivalent to that provided to motorists on the bridge.
Amongst the visitors to Scienceworks jetty on Ride to Work Day 2008 was a policeman who heard about the event on ABC radio. "He dropped in to say hello and have a free sausage," said Mr Davidson. "He also recalled the old car ferry that crossed the Yarra a little further downstream, from near the Newport Power Station and the Warmies fishing spot.
"The old Newport car ferry is obviously a thing of the past. The bike and pedestrian commuter punt, though, is the way of the future, the immediate future."
Media enquiries: Andrew Davidson 0415 125 756
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The campaign to bring back the Westgate commuter punt steps up a gear next week with the Westgate Punters' annual service running on Ride to Work Day.
On Wednesday 15 October the punt will run from 6.30am to 9am and then from 3.30pm to 7pm. It will ferry cyclists and pedestrians to and from the Spotswood jetty (near Scienceworks) and the Fishermans Bend jetty.
On previous Ride to Work Days the number of passenger trips has increased each time, from 104 in 2005 to 215 in 2006 to 256 last year.
"We're hoping for 300 passenger trips this year," said spokesman Andrew Davidson. "There's no doubt the number of commuting cyclists is increasing. The demand for a permanent ferry service is definitely there."
Since last year's Ride to Work Day the Westgate Punters have contributed to the Eddington transport strategy and the Victorian Transport Strategy. It has also developed a business model for a permanent service and continues to explore funding and sponsorship possibilities.
The service on Ride To Work Day also marks the return of the spring and summer weekend service, which has been running for more than a decade. This service resumes on Saturday 18 October.
Tickets on Ride to Work Day are $3 a trip or $5 for a return ticket.
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