Kingston Village Ltd (KVL) plans on adding up to 750 affordable sections immediately south of the existing township, and has already sold 110 this year.
KVL senior development manager Nicola Tristram says the aim’s to provide a 30-passenger service with a travelling time of just 40 minutes.
That compares favourably with the current journey along Kingston Rd that’s often affected by chronic traffic congestion from about Jack’s Point onwards.
Tristram says it makes sense to terminate the journey in Queenstown Bay as going to the Frankton marina would add about another 15 minutes, and there’s no readily available transport from there to Frankton.
Ideally, she adds, Frankton-bound commuters could then jump on to the proposed gondola — also electric-powered — from central Queenstown.
She says they’d potentially run two ferries to provide a both-ways service on the hour — there’d be a 20-minute charging time on top of the 40-minute commute. "It has to be a consistent service so people will use it."
For their vessel, KVL’s looking at the Swedish-designed Candela P-12 electric hydro-foiling ferry which Meridian Energy’s bought to transport staff and contractors across Lake Manapouri to its hydro power station.
It’s replacing a diesel-powered ferry for a reported saving of about $200,000 a year in fuel, maintenance and carbon-offset costs.
Tristram says they’re figuring out how it’d operate on Lake Whakatipu.
Elements would include an upgrade to the Kingston wharf, securing a power supply and obtaining Queenstown council and Otago Regional Council consents.
She notes the foiling ferry’s less susceptible to choppy water as it flies above the water, and, because it’s designed to take bikes, it’ll suit visitors going to Kingston to undertake the Around the Mountains Cycle Trail.
An electric foiling ferry from Kingston was foreshadowed in Mountain Scene two years ago when Queenstown businessmen Jim Boult and Rod Drury revealed their plans to electrify the resort, based off a new power cable between Kingston and Queenstown.
Meanwhile, Kingston resident and regular Queenstown commuter Tori Keating says a ferry would be "fantastic if it happens".
"As it is now, the road is already getting congested in the mornings and afternoons with commuter traffic, and with a new subdivision it will only intensify.
"Certainly for Kingston residents now we get slowed down when we reach Jack’s Point and join the traffic queue there, and with Park Ridge coming online, too, it’s not going to get any less congested, so a commuter boat makes perfect sense."
Keating says it’d also be great if the ferry service received some public funding.
"Our [regional council] rates currently help support a public transport system in Queenstown our residents can’t utilise, and with our growing population our contribution to the rates pool is increasing, too."
Kingston Community Association chairperson Kimberley Marshall says everyone in her community would love a ferry, though she suggests it’d be a long way off given the town’s current population.
"I guess people are used to driving to the supermarket and the daycare when they go to town for work, so you might take a bit of resetting people’s mindsets."
