Chow moves to shore up trust in Toronto's aging island ferry service

Mayor Olivia Chow says Toronto's aging island ferry fleet is safe, despite a number of problems with the boats in recent months. 

Chow said Friday that she has taken a more active role in managing the file and is concerned that a number of high profile safety incidents and maintenance issues "risk shaking people's faith in the ferries." 

Those comments come days after the head of the department that oversees the fleet appeared before a city committee, at the mayor's request, to publicly explain safety enhancements made to the fleet.

"I want to assure the public that the ferries are safe," Chow said.

"As soon as I saw the situation I said, 'Hang on, we need to have better support. We need more people. We need new ferries. I'm glad that the electric ferries have been ordered."

The city's ferry fleet serves 1.4 million passengers annually and has been under increasing scrutiny after several safety incidents. The four aging vessel's reliability has also been questioned after lengthy outages have taken some of the boats out of service earlier this year. 

Last month, the crew of the William Inglis ferry had to perform an emergency stop after what the city describes as a "mechanical issue," resulting in the ferry hitting the dock. No one was injured, but the ferry was taken out of service. The city said Friday the vessel remains offline as it continues to investigate the incident.

In June, two of the ferries, the Thomas Rennie and the Trillium, were out of service because they were in need of repairs, resulting in the city warning travelers to expect delays and advising them to make alternate arrangements or postpone trips to the island.

The most high profile incident occurred in August 2022, when the Sam McBride collided with the dock, injuring 20 people and sending six to hospital. A Transportation Safety Board (TSB) inquiry found that "several safety deficiencies" contributed to the incident. 

The acting general manager of the city's parks, forestry and recreation department told the city's executive committee this week that staff have worked to address concerns raised after the 2022 incident and responded to the TSB's recommendations. That includes hiring 63 more staff to crew the vessels, adding more life jackets on the boats and increasing lighting and safety signage.

"The city's priorities remain operating a safe and reliable service, which includes meeting Transport Canada's regulatory requirements around safety," Howie Dayton told the committee.

The city says the ferries are between 61 and 114 years old and are beyond the average industry lifespan. This summer, council approved the purchase of two new electric vessels for $92 million, but they won't be delivered until late 2026 and early 2027.

The city began preparations to buy replacement boats in 2015, and city council has changed the specifications of vessel design a number of times, leading to cost escalations. 

In July, staff told councillors that when the ferry purchase first appeared in the city budget in 2020 the boats were estimated to cost taxpayers $25 million.