The new fast ferries, replacing Penang’s old ferries for pedestrians, officially started today from the Swettenham Pier and hundreds crowded on board, eager to try them out for the first time.
There were crowds walking from the old ferry terminal some 800m away as many had got off buses at the old terminal. They said they did not know the old terminal was no longer in use.
A new bus stop has been set up outside Swettenham Pier now.
At the terminal, pedestrians would first have get up to the waiting area on the first floor of the pier terminal using escalators. There, they are presented with numbered stubs by auxiliary policemen, as the rides are free for two weeks.
They have to surrender the stubs at the other end.
When the ferry arrives in Butterworth, waiting passengers are brought down to a ramp connecting to a pontoon below. The sturdy pontoon can handle 150 people at any one time.
According to officials, the 200-passenger ferries did not see many people when it started its service at 6.30am, with only 27 people in the fast ferry departing Butterworth.
However, the numbers rose as the day went on with a peak of 157, the largest crowd registered on the new speedboats at 1pm.
Penang Port Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Radhi Mohamad, when met at the pier, said the crowd was expected to swell tomorrow, as the lull today could be due to the New Year.
PPSB later issued a statement, saying 10,000 people had taken the new speedboats as of 5pm today.
One of the first-time riders on the fast ferries, Azizan Ibrahim, 57, said that while the ride from Butterrworth took less than 10 minutes, the nostalgia of the old ferry was hard to forget.
His wife Nor Azizah Mat Salleh, 51, said the old ferries allowed one to walk around to take in the cool breeze of the sea.
“Here, we are forced to sit in one place. It feels weird doing so after using the ferry for so long,” he said.
Azizah said it was at the urging of their son, Hakimi, 13, that they decided to try out the speedboat.
Siriviraj Shanmugam, 38, and his wife, Jennifer Simon, 35, also preferred the old ferries but felt the new ones were efficient and fast.
They said it was easy to get on to a ferry now compared with before as they waited less than 15 minutes for one.
Technician Clodius Fabian, 30, said the speedboats were a “fantastic” change compared with the older ferries.
He and his date Noria Massangi, 24, said it was a memorable journey on the boat and they were glad to use the service.
Two speedboats will be in service from today and will be free for two weeks, after which a charge of RM1.20 per adult and 60 sen for children will apply.
There is an additional ferry on standby if the passenger traffic picks up.
The Riau-built ferries, on loan from the Langkawi Ferry Service, will run at 20-minute intervals during peak hours and 30-minute intervals during off-peak hours.
The ferry operators say that the new ferry service would handle the pedestrian traffic from the older ferry service. A total of 1.3 million pedestrians used the ferries last year.
Another 200,000 users were in cars and on two-wheelers.
The new vessels will be in service until June 2022 before making way for three “water buses” and two motorcycle transporters.
In the meantime, motorcyclists, cyclists and trishaws will use the Pulau Angsa, the sole vehicular ferry to remain in service.