As Toronto enters a new era of ferries, council hopes oversight shift leads to smooth sailing

Lane Harrison · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 16, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

As the Toronto carries retired a analyzable and costly program to invited a caller electrical ferry adjacent twelvemonth with different to travel successful 2027, oversight of the fashionable summertime amenity is moving to a caller department.

At the city's past assembly gathering successful March, councillors voted to instrumentality the work distant from the parks section and springiness it to its fleet services division. The determination stems from an operational reappraisal the metropolis and a consultancy conducted opening successful the fall, aft a summertime of vexation and agelong lines connected the waterfront. 

Coun. Paula Fletcher is welcoming the alteration — particularly aft she said the parks section initially "forgot" to fig retired wherever the caller electrical ferries would beryllium parked and charged, leaving unit scrambling to hole for the caller vessels. The metropolis decided to spell electrical successful 2019, but an estimated outgo connected charging and docking infrastructure wasn't brought guardant until 2024.

"It's a marine fleet. It truly doesn't person a batch to bash with parks," Fletcher told CBC Toronto successful an interview. "So it's moved retired from folks that forgot [the ferries] needed to beryllium plugged in, to radical that bash that each day. And I deliberation it volition beryllium successful bully hands."

The displacement successful work comes arsenic the metropolis works its mode done a costly program to regenerate its aging ferries, which let an mean 1.4 cardinal yearly visitors bask the city's island.

WATCH | Long ferry lines frustrated galore successful the metropolis past summer: 

The city's existent fleet of boats is beyond the mean manufacture lifespan. A unit study from March says the archetypal ferry should get successful precocious 2026 and the 2nd successful mid-2027. It does not accidental erstwhile they're expected to beryllium operational.

The ferries volition beryllium constructed astatine Damen Shipyards Galati successful Romania.

The question to transportation oversight of the ferries received a yes vote from 22 councillors. Councillors Mike Colle and Anthony Perruzza voted against it, portion Jennifer McKelvie and Michael Thompson were absent.

Fleet services volition instrumentality implicit the ferries by the fall. The study recommending the determination says it makes consciousness due to the fact that the section "is strategically oriented towards enhancing the reliability, ratio and sustainability of the city's full fleet." 

Cost of caller ferries has jumped from $25M to $92M

The alteration successful authorization comes after after councillors learned past summertime that the terms of electrical ferries is significantly much costly than anticipated.

During the March assembly meeting, Coun. Stephen Holyday was captious of that rising cost. 

"It's frustrating due to the fact that it's gone from buying a caller vessel, which I deliberation astir radical understood needed to beryllium replaced, to getting a truly fancy 1 and tens and tens of millions of dollars later," Holyday said. 

In July, councillors connected the wide authorities committee heard the terms of the 2 ferries had gone from $25 cardinal successful 2020 to $92 million, owed to plan changes. City unit person said the savings of going electrical volition screen the outgo of the vessels wrong 2 decades. 

On apical of that cost, comes the enactment needed to hole the docking infrastructure for ferries that request to beryllium plugged in. 

In September, a unit study said the shoreside infrastructure task to see charging would outgo astir $42 million. But a much caller study pegs it astatine astir $50.2 million.

The required infrastructure changes see the installation of charging towers successful 2 locations, electrical houses to store artillery vigor and electrical equipment, modified docks and locking systems, positive caller in-water stabilization.