The Westgate Punt is a passenger

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It operates on the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...

, connecting the suburbs of Spotswood and

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

with a journey of . The ferry service is operated by Rob Horner, however subsidised and overseen by

Public Transport Victoria Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria. It was previously the trading name of the Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authority in Victo ...

. It is the only commuter ferry service operating within metropolitan Melbourne.

History

The Westgate Punt started in 1993 and was initially conceived as a way to help

unemployed Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (hu ...

youth get a start in the

maritime industry Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it pr ...

. The punt was originally privately operated, where services were unreliable for weekday

commuter Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

services and were not operated during poor weather or

winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

months. It primarily served recreational users during weekends and

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Types Civic holiday A ''civic holiday'', also k ...

s. Along with the high fare price,

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

rates were very low. Due to low usage, weekday services were cancelled in 2006. In October 2011, weekday services were resumed after the Napthine government committed $1.4 million over four years to the punt service. It provided an alternative to driving over the

West Gate Bridge The West Gate Bridge is a steel, box girder, cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, spanning the Yarra River just north of its mouth into Port Phillip. It carries the West Gate Freeway and is a vital link between the Melbourn ...

for cyclists as it was the only connection between the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and the western suburbs south of Footscray Road, which led to a 43% increase in average daily patronage. In 2016, subsidies were continued by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

along with a new vessel that is able to carry 20 passengers with bikes, up from 12 previously. In 2022, the Andrews government invested $200 thousand to maintain the low fare as a part of the government's goal to improve the cycling and walking network of Victoria. In June 2023, the ferry service acted as a replacement service during a two-week closure of roads and

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

lines due to

West Gate Tunnel The West Gate Tunnel, formerly known as the Western Distributor, is a four kilometre toll road currently under construction in Melbourne, Australia, to link the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville with the Port of Melbourne and CityLink at Dock ...

works.

Service

The ferry operates back and forth between Spotswood Jetty and Westgate Landing across the

, with a journey time of approximately 5 minutes. One vessel is used to operate all services. On weekdays, the ferry only operates during the morning and afternoon peak in a 20-minute frequency at each wharf. On weekends, an

on-demand On-demand or on demand may refer to: Manufacturing * Build-on-demand * Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production * Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until an ...

service is provided from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Myki Myki ( ), stylised as myki, is a reloadable credit card-sized contactless smart card ticketing system used for electronic payment of fares on most public transport services in Melbourne and regional Victoria, Australia. Myki replaced the Me ...

is not available on the service due to its privately owned nature, where only

EFTPOS Electronic funds transfer at point of sale, abbreviated as EFTPOS (), is a type of payment transaction in which electronic funds transfers (EFT) are processed at a point of sale (POS) system or payment terminal usually via payment methods such as ...

payments are accepted.

Spotswood Jetty

The Spotswood Jetty is located on Douglas Parade, near the corner of Craig Street in the suburb of Spotswood, and is a short walk from Spotswood Station and the nearby Scienceworks. On weekdays, services are available from 6:30 am to 9:10 am, and from 3:50 to 6:50 pm.

Westgate Landing

Westgate Landing is located on Lorimer Street, near the corner of Sardine Street in

Fishermans Bend Fishermans Bend (formerly Fishermen's Bend) is a precinct within the City of Port Phillip and the City of Melbourne. It is located on the south of the Yarra River in the suburb of Port Melbourne and opposite Coode Island, close to the Melbourne ...

. It is connected by bus route 237 which stops nearby on Lorimer Street and runs into the city. On weekdays, services are available from 6:40 am to 9:00 am, and from 3:40 to 7:00 pm.

References

External links

Public Transport Victoria

Westgate Punt Official Website
{{MelbournePublicTransport Public transport in Melbourne Transport in Melbourne Ferries of Victoria (state)