Those tired of waiting in long lineups for the ferries to and from Toronto Islands will be happy to hear City Council has approved $92 million towards the construction and delivery of two new fully-electric vessels, expected to arrive in late 2026 or early 2027.
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“Ones that are currently operating, they’re 50 years old, so we’re buying some ferries for the future,” Councillor Paula Fletcher told the Sun on Friday.
“They’re state-of-the-art ferries, they’ll last a long time and we’ll save a lot of fuel. The Mayor said, ‘Can we find some ferries to lease while we’re waiting for them, it’s going to take two years, so can we get some other ferries so we can reduce the lineups?’”
Fletcher, who also had a motion to have the ferry docks upgraded while Toronto waits for its two new vessels, says council is looking at leasing Kingston’s retired ferries that have been replaced by electric ones.
“See if we can increase the fleet while we’re waiting,” she said. “And get a move on and get these new ones available because it’s the destination that everybody wants to go to.”
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The current fleet of four ferries transports approximately 1.4 million passengers and over 5,000 vehicles annually to and from Toronto Islands – one of the most popular tourist and local destinations in the summer.
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The first vessel to be delivered will be the passenger and vehicle vessel, which is designed for year-round use and is equipped with ice-crushing capabilities.
It is designed to accommodate up to 650 passengers and 14 vehicles (or two large trucks), or up to 1,300 passengers without vehicles.
This ferry will replace the Ongiara (capacity 250 passengers), currently the sole vehicle-carrying vessel in the City’s fleet certified for operation in icy waters during winter months.
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The second vessel is a passenger-only ferry with an anticipated capacity of 1,300 passengers, intended to replace the William Inglis, which currently accommodates up to 309 passengers.
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The new ferries combined will increase the City’s ferry capacity by over 1,400 passengers per trip.
“So you can see that these new ferries would eliminate the lineups (and) get people moving faster back and forth,” said Fletcher.
“It’s taken a while to get to this point because they did back and forth, back and forth over the last eight years but this is it,” she said. “Move it. Make it happen.”
“And I think the mayor said, ‘While people are in line, let’s not just have people stand there, let’s have a few things going on for them. Let’s have some food trucks. Let’s have some entertainment. Let’s have some kids games.’ Don’t make it so boring and hot, standing there waiting to get on the ferries.”
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