Report douses Geelong hopes: Ferry unlikely

A FERRY between Geelong and Docklands is “unlikely to be suitable for most commuters”, according to a State Government report.
But the Ernst and Young report for Planning Minister Matthew Guy said ferries travelling between Portarlington and Docklands could be viable.
“Depending on ferry speeds that are permitted in the Yarra River, a trip from Geelong to Docklands would take anywhere between 85 and 110 minutes for services that do not stop at other locations. Portarlington, however, is significantly closer to Wyndham and Melbourne Docklands,” the report said.
Direct travel between Portarlington and Docklands would take between 60 and 80 minutes, less than the average 90-minute car trip.
The Independent reported in June that State Government had added Portarlington and Geelong to the $300,000 viability study but Mr Guy “wasn’t interested” in docking at Port Melbourne, as the previous government had investigated.
Mayor Keith Fagg said a tourist service from Geelong would be “well worth looking into”, even if the ferry failed to provide an option for commuters.
“A trip that takes 90 minutes to two hours would be unacceptable and not practical for commuters but on a tourism basis perhaps there’d be a lot of interest in that for people to experience the bay and see the sights.
“Maybe a business case could be built around a tourist market for this service.”
Portarlington Ferry Group’s John Rae said travelling to Docklands within 80 minutes would depend on a change in boating speed limits.
“We’d be rapt if we could run to Docklands from Portarlington,” he said.
“We never thought Geelong was viable. Where ferries work really well is where they don’t compete against existing transport.”
Mr Rae said the ferry should be “as direct as possible” to nearly halve car travel time between Portarlington and Melbourne during peak hour.
“It absolutely could not go via anywhere.”