As Toronto enters a new era of ferries, council hopes oversight shift leads to smooth sailing
Fleet services will now have responsibility over the city's ferry to the island
As the Toronto carries out a complex and costly plan to welcome a new electric ferry next year with another to follow in 2027, oversight of the popular summer amenity is moving to a new department.
At the city's last council meeting in March, councillors voted to take the service away from the parks department and give it to its fleet services division. The move stems from an operational review the city and a consultancy conducted beginning in the fall, after a summer of frustration and long lines on the waterfront.
Coun. Paula Fletcher is welcoming the change — especially after she said the parks department initially "forgot" to figure out where the new electric ferries would be parked and charged, leaving staff scrambling to prepare for the new vessels. The city decided to go electric in 2019, but an estimated cost on charging and docking infrastructure wasn't brought forward until 2024.
"It's a marine fleet. It really doesn't have a lot to do with parks," Fletcher told CBC Toronto in an interview. "So it's moved out from folks that forgot [the ferries] needed to be plugged in, to people that do that every day. And I think it will be in good hands."
The shift in responsibility comes as the city works its way through a costly plan to replace its aging ferries, which allow an average 1.4 million annual visitors enjoy the city's island.
The city's current fleet of boats is beyond the average industry lifespan. A staff report from March says the first ferry should arrive in late 2026 and the second in mid-2027. It does not say when they're expected to be operational.
The ferries will be constructed at Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania.
The motion to transfer oversight of the ferries received a yes vote from 22 councillors. Councillors Mike Colle and Anthony Perruzza voted against it, while Jennifer McKelvie and Michael Thompson were absent.
Fleet services will take over the ferries by the fall. The report recommending the move says it makes sense because the department "is strategically oriented towards enhancing the reliability, efficiency and sustainability of the city's entire fleet."
Cost of new ferries has jumped from $25M to $92M
The change in authority comes after after councillors learned last summer that the price of electric ferries is significantly more expensive than anticipated.
During the March council meeting, Coun. Stephen Holyday was critical of that rising cost.
"It's frustrating because it's gone from buying a new vessel, which I think most people understood needed to be replaced, to getting a really fancy one and tens and tens of millions of dollars later," Holyday said.
In July, councillors on the general government committee heard the price of the two ferries had gone from $25 million in 2020 to $92 million, due to design changes. City staff have said the savings of going electric will cover the cost of the vessels within two decades.
On top of that cost, comes the work needed to prepare the docking infrastructure for ferries that need to be plugged in.
In September, a staff report said the shoreside infrastructure project to include charging would cost about $42 million. But a more recent report pegs it at about $50.2 million.
The required infrastructure changes include the installation of charging towers in two locations, electric houses to store battery energy and electrical equipment, modified docks and locking systems, plus new in-water stabilization.
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