How do you get around in a city on a harbour? On boats called ferries.


KEZIA GEORGE: Since the settlement of Sydney, the harbour has been used to transport cargo and commuters, as well as entertain tourists and locals.

It's an integral part of the city's identity. Today, Sydney Ferries has a fleet of 31 vessels. They sail as far west as Parramatta and as far east as Manly.

PASSENGER: My wife and I are spending two days in Sydney. She's doing the shopping and I thought I'd like to spend my time doing this.

PASSENGER : We were having some time out in Sydney and my husband wanted to take me up to Parramatta and I hadn't done it before.

PASSENGER : Just to fill in a bit of time. We are doing a round trip. Been on the train and now we're going back on the ferry.

PASSENGER : Well, I've never been on the ferry. It's the first time on the Rivercat - I've always seen it going past on the river. So, it's a good way of going into the city, I've been told.

KEZIA GEORGE: Sydney Ferries was once the world's largest operator. In its heyday, the company had 51 vessels carrying more than 40 million passenger journeys a year.

So what changed?

JOHN GARRETT: After the period when the Harbour Bridge was opened in '32, the services actually increased for a while, but then they started to show declining markets.

KEZIA GEORGE: The Harbour Bridge gave road and rail travel a lift. By 1933, Sydney Ferries' fleet was almost halved. Passenger numbers had dropped from 40 million to under 15 million journeys a year.

Sydney Ferries Ltd was facing ruin.

As a result, in 1951, the State Government took over. For the last 50 years, ferries patronage has ebbed and flowed.

MICHAEL COSTA: Ferry patronage is very low. We have a system that can accommodate many more people than use it.

We have problems with maintenance, we have problems with the availability of our ferries.

Some of that is due to poor management decisions in the past in terms of vessels and they are the sorts of issues we need to correct in the future.