Marlborough District Council, with funding support, will subsidise water taxi services for residents, workers and visitors to areas in the Marlborough Sounds that were previously accessible by road.

Port Marlborough has also announced that they will assist the community with free car parking and free two-hour visitor berthing in the Havelock and Picton Marinas until the end of September.

Recovery Manager, Dean Heiford, said he was pleased to be able to extend the subsidy to help the areas affected. There is a possibility the services could be expanded once more of an understanding of the resources available and demands are known.

“The subsidy is $25 per passenger per trip for scheduled and pre-booked services. Bookings can be made directly with water taxi service providers and also through the Marlborough i-SITE, which is open 7 days, or by calling 0800 777 181, or by visiting their website: https://marlboroughnz.com/AugustWeatherTransport/,” Mr Heiford said.

In addition to the per passenger subsidy, Marlborough District Council will also subsidise 50 per cent of each grocery and essential supplies delivery cost to those residents who can no longer travel by road.

"We will continually review the demand and services in order to meet the needs of the community as best as we can,” Mr Heiford said.

“I encourage residents to coordinate travel times, if possible, to make water taxi trips as efficient as possible. Please be mindful there will be some niggles as we introduce these services, so bear with us as our teams do their best to assist our communities,” he said.

The water taxi subsidy is separate to the barge service subsidy.

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