Toronto to explore "relief" vessels to ease Islands ferry lineups

The 'Ongiara,' one of the aging ferries in Toronto's fleet, is pictured in this undated image.

As the city of Toronto waits for delivery of two new electric ferries to ease long lines at the ferry terminal to the Toronto Islands, city staff have now been tasked with finding “relief ferries” to tackle congestion in the meantime.

Mayor Olivia Chow said she’s not sure the best way to get the vessels in place, but said that it’s important to find a solution for ferry lineups which in some cases have stretched from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal to around the front of the Westin Hotel.

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“My motion is to say, “Hey, why don’t we see if we could lease, rent, something in between now and the end of 2026 to get people over to the islands,” Chow told council on Thursday as she advanced a motion to find other vessels.

“Maybe not just one. Maybe there are several. I don’t know what the options are but let’s explore it,” she said.

The motion came as Toronto approved the purchase of two new electric ferries to carry people to the Toronto Islands at a cost of $92 million.

The boats will replace aging ferries that have been in service for between 61 and 114 years. They will be built in Romania by Damen Shipyards Galati.

They’re expected to be delivered in late 2026 to early 2027. City council heard they will take six minutes to charge, can travel four times across the harbour without charging, will save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on fuel and will increase the capacity of 1,000 passengers per trip for the passenger vessel.

Similar vessels ordered from the same company to Kingston to serve the Kingston-Wolfe Island route have been out of service, but council heard that’s because the charging infrastructure on that route hasn’t yet been built.

Councillor Paula Fletcher urged the city to ensure the chargers are in place for when the vessels arrive. She said another option that is being explored for easier access to the islands, a bridge, would interfere with commercial shipping.

“I’ve done the numbers as far as the number of ships that travel there. There are 200. Economic-wise, let’s put that puppy to bed right now,” she said.

Another motion, proposed by Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik, directed city staff to find new ways of offering tickets to the ferries, including linking it to the regional’s transit payment system, the Presto Card.