The Westgate Punt, which ferries cyclists and foot passengers from Spotswood to Port Melbourne every day, will get a bigger vessel – nearly doubling capacity – in December.
The state government has allocated $1million over four years to subsidise the punt service, which takes people across the low end of the Yarra river.
It is the only bike route connecting the western suburbs to the city, south of Footscray Road.
In the first six months of this year, 18,577 people used the punt – an average of 102 per day.
Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said the new vessel would enable the punt to carry 20 passengers with bikes at a time – up from 12 at the moment.
“The Westgate punt provides thousands of cyclists and pedestrians with a faster and safer way to cross the Yarra,” Mr Noonan said. “The punt is a local institution … the ferry takes just five minutes, costs just two bucks on a weekday, and shaves half an hour off a trip from Port Melbourne to Spotswood and the west,” he said.
The punt weekday service was cancelled in 2006, but reinstated in 2011. It runs to a 20-minute timetable in the weekday peak and on demand at weekends.
The five-minute, 100 metre crossing takes 13 kilometres by road.
