Brisbane’s beloved city hopper and cross-river ferries were suddenly removed from service last month, with the Lord Mayor citing safety concerns.
The lack of notice left commuters high and dry.
One commuter’s travel time reportedly increased from a 4-minute ferry ride to over an hour on buses.
But according to the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) there was no need for the mass disruption and the monohull ferries are still seaworthy.
Steve Cumberlidge from the MUA has raised questions as to the real reasons behind why the ferries were dramatically pulled from the water.
“From what we’ve been told (the boats) are all ready to go and should not have been pulled in the first place,” Mr Cumberlidge said.
The council says it’s currently conducting its own audit reports on the nine ferries and will release them to the public once they’re complete.
Council Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy says the original advice and report that triggered the Lord Mayor to cancel the services in such haste should be released now.
“While we wait for Adrian Schrinner’s so-called ‘independent reports’ to be finished, the people of Brisbane at least deserve to know what was so alarming about the ferries in the first place,” Cr Cassidy said.
“It’s simply not good enough to site ‘deterioration’ but give no further details – these ferries are a significant public service that thousands rely on daily.”
