West End ferry terminal to reopen

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk today announced the opening of a new $5 million CityCat terminal at West End would see the return of ferry services to the suburb six months after it was ravaged by January’s devastating flood.

The Lord Mayor said ferry services would resume from West End’s Orleigh St CityCat ferry terminal on Monday August 1, as well as the River Plaza CityFerry stop, which was also damaged during the floods. He said the ferry timetable would be reconfigured accordingly.

Cr Quirk made the announcement today as he unveiled the new state-of-the-art West End CityCat terminal, which was completely rebuilt after it was washed away by the flood.

He also officially launched Brisbane’s 18th CityCat ferry vessel ‘Mudherri’ today, which was christened by former Mater hospital administrator and Queenslander of the Year Sister Angela Mary Doyle.

Cr Quirk said today’s events marked an important milestone in Brisbane’s flood recovery.

“The reopening of the West End ferry terminal is another major hurdle Brisbane has now overcome in its recovery from January’s devastating flood and again shows this city really is open for business,” he said.

“It’s also testament to the lessons we’ve learnt from the flood, with the new CityCat terminal including new flood-resilience features that allow the pontoon and gangway to be sunk below the water level to stop them being washed away again during a future flood event and causing more damage downstream.

“Today’s events also prove that this administration walks the walk when it comes to improving Brisbane’s public transport network.

“We are now just one ferry away from meeting our election commitment to take Brisbane’s CityCat fleet to a record 19 vessels by 2012 and just this week started construction on the second of two new CityCat stops we’ve promised to deliver this term.”

During January’s floods, 23 of Brisbane’s ferry terminals were damaged, eight of which were completely destroyed. Despite this, Lord Mayor Graham Quirk was able to deliver on his promise to have like-for-like replacement pontoons open within three months of the flood.

The only exceptions were the River Plaza CityFerry stop and West End CityCat terminal, which was already scheduled for a major upgrade in 2011 prior to the flood. This upgrade was brought forward.

“I think everybody would agree that it was far better value for ratepayers that we pushed ahead with pre-existing plans to build a new ferry terminal at West End rather than spending millions of dollars on a replacement that would then have to be rebuilt later in the year,” Cr Quirk said.

Cr Quirk said the new ferry terminal had been upgraded to allow two CityCat ferries to dock at once to allow faster services more often, as well as improved disability access.

Other features include: sheltered, non-slip walkway, waiting area, gangway and pontoon; provision for a ‘go card’ top-up facility; unisex public toilet and sheltered 24-hour rack bike storage.