Douglas Shire Council has said that it will look into adding a priority locals-only lane to the northern side of the Daintree River Ferry crossing, but has ruled out increasing the speed of the ferry. 

The community voiced their gripes with the ferry on an Ask Douglas question on the Newsport’s Facebook page last week, with an extra lane reserved only for locals on the northern side being one of the most asked-for improvements to the service. 

Another common suggestion was that council increase the speed of the ferry when carrying locals across the river.

Council general operations manager Paul Hoye said in an email that council was ‘already investigating the practicality and feasibility of a priority lane on the northern side of the Daintree River”, but there was little point increasing the speed of the ferry. 

“The maximum speed vessels over five metres can travel in that section of the Daintree River is six knots,” Mr Hoye said. 

“It takes between 3.5 minutes and four minutes from ramp up to ramp down for the ferry to get across the river - loading and unloading takes longer than the actual crossing. The ferry can travel faster in emergencies but again the time saved can be measured in seconds as the ferry needs to reduce speed halfway across to allow for a safe landing.

“It is not practical for the ferry to travel at one speed for locals and another for tourists and the time saved would be a few seconds.”

In peak tourist season the proportion of locals using the ferry is about 10 per cent, while during the wet season locals make up about 70 per cent of the traffic.