Lengthy ferry lineups spur renewed call for bridge to Toronto islands

There are renewed calls for the city to work toward building a bridge to the Toronto Islands following a weekend which saw lengthy lineups to access Toronto's aging ferry fleet.

Former Spadina-Fort York council candidate April Engelberg posted a picture of the lineup for the ferry winding around the Westin Harbour Castle on Queen's Quay West.

Speaking with CP24 Monday, she said access to the islands is "an equity issue" in a city where green space is limited. She pointed out that the Toronto Islands are 16 times the size of Trinity Bellwoods Park, which many consider the main park in the ward.

"So it should be free for everybody to access and easy for everybody to access," Engelberg said. "And right now, it really isn't."

When Engelberg ran for council, she proposed a bridge connecting the east end of the island to the Port Lands.

"The bridge area that I'm proposing, it's only 250 meters. So we've built much more complicated things in the city," she said.

Speaking with reporters at a housing announcement Monday, Mayor Olivia Chow sympathized with those waiting in a long lineup for a ferry ride, especially with young kids.

"I get it. Over the weekend, my grandkids were also lined up, and I heard that it's hard with three ferries running, plus one replacement ferry. So we had four ferries running on full capacity," Chow said.  

She said the current situation is the product of years of back-and-forth at council over what type of ferries to order to replace the aging fleet.

"What was unfortunate is that we knew we needed two new ferries, and that had been talked about since 2017 and every time it came close to getting the contract out there, it got pulled back," Chow said.

While the city originally planned to order diesel ferries to replace the existing ones, they switched to hybrid electric ferries after more study, and then switched again to fully electric ferries.

The estimated cost of the purchase has balloon to more than $92 million so far and a number of councillors have recently expressed concerns about cost overruns and possible delays. If the order proceeds as planned this fall, the first replacement ferry could arrive as soon as December 2026.

In the meantime, Chow said "we'll see what else we can do" to reduce the wait time to get to and from the island.  

City staff are currently exploring the feasibility of a bridge.

"At the same council (meeting) where we said, we are buying and ordering the electric ferries, at that time we also said, 'let's look at the bridge and how much would it cost? Where would it be? How would it be done?'" Chow said. "So we are awaiting a staff report on it."