CityCats are back!

CityCat Flotilla 13/02/2011

Today 14/02/2011 marks the day that CityCat  and CityFerry services have partially resumed after the devastating Brisbane Flood, one month earlier. Brisbane City Council should be commended on how quickly they have managed to get the CityCat and CityFerry services back in action. UQ, West End, Regatta, North Quay, QUT, Sydney Street, and Holman Street remain closed until further notice due to the huge damage caused by flood waters and debris. The interim timetable appears to have similar frequencies to the usual excellent CityCat timetable, but due the confusing timetable on TransLink's website, don't take BrizCommuter's word for it!

BrizCommuter decided to watch the flotilla (pictured) of CityCat, CityFerry, and a few other tourist boats yesterday 13/02/2011 to welcome back Brisbane's icons. However, due to lack of advertising about the event, the crowds were sadly limited. BrizCommuter was on the Goodwill Bridge, and the only other spectators were 2 tourist couples, and some people on bikes who just happened to be passing!

In typical negative fashion, the Courier Mail have welcomed back the CityCats with an article mentioning the decline in CityCat patronage prior to the floods. A quote "council is investigating the decline and could not rule out the impact of the State Government fare increases", probably needs to be highlighted. Rail patronage also fell around the same time, after the huge January 2010 fare increase, despite massive growth over preceding years - covered in this earlier blog post. It doesn't take a detective to work out a major reason for the decline in patronage!