It may be true that Toronto is jokingly known as a city full of people that love to line up for all sorts of things, but waits have been far worse than usual for a handful of pretty crucial services lately, among them, passport renewals and every aspect of air travel.

This long weekend showed that another thing can be added to that list now that beautiful summer weather is fully upon us: getting to the Toronto Islands.

Does taking the ferry to the Toronto Islands in summer always have to be so painful? Two booths, both taking payment AND prepaid tickets, so pre-paying doesn’t save you much time. Isn’t this one of the most important tourist attractions in the city? pic.twitter.com/WiB85LmOdd

— Francine Kopun (@KopunF) June 25, 2022

Anyone hoping to adventure around Centre Island, have a beach day at Hanlan's Point, or otherwise enjoy the popular attraction for a day was left frustrated waiting in huge lineups to catch the ferry across from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal.

Some ferry failures today, apparently. I'm not a Toronto lifer but I keep a couple of ferry tickets in my wallet and a couple of water taxis bookmarked in my phone. There's a big advantage to being the first to give up on the city and head elsewhere. https://t.co/XEg6GJWDWr

— Garnet Fraser (@garnetfraser) July 2, 2022

It appeared reminiscent of last summer's chaos when ferries were operating at limited capacity due to the pandemic, making for hours-long lineups that snaked around the harbourfront as people flocked to catch said city-operated ferries or private water taxis.

This summer, though, those COVID restrictions are no longer in place — people are just eager to get out and enjoy themselves after years of lockdown.

Wow the city sure appears to be running smooth and organized, NOT pic.twitter.com/0jDaXK1RMt

— Blake Acton (@ActonForMayor) July 2, 2022

"The wait times and overcrowding was awful," one resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told blogTO. "The city should be investing in more ferry service."

They added that as bad as the throngs were to get to the islands, coming back was actually worse, though the far pricier option of a water taxi was a saving grace.

"The line had to be over 1 km long. I ended up having to pay for a water taxi — the line for that wasn't nearly as long and moving steadily."

Been waiting for more than 2 hours for a ferry from central island #stranded #toronto #centralisland

— kieve jacob (@KieveJacob) July 3, 2022

Some reported having to wait up to a whopping five hours — the majority of their planned day out — to catch a ride to or from the islands as complaints abounded on social media.

Terrible and mismanagement at #Centre Island Ferry# Toronto line @JohnTory lines are 4-5 hrs long @TorontoPolice

— Da ai (@MonalisaGanguli) July 3, 2022

A few even tried to catch the attention of Mayor John Tory, demanding that the issue be addressed ASAP to prevent futher snags this summer as everything becomes progressively busier.

@TorontosMayor do you know how the Toronto Centre Island ferry is going?
Go for a ferry ride on weekends. You will see a lot to improve. I returned from "mouth" of the ferry entrance after waiting for 2.5 hours.

— Madan K Suwal (@madanksuwal) July 2, 2022

Under the current summer schedule for ferries, there are 22 trips a day in each direction to and from Centre Island (first ferry leaves the city at 8 a.m., last one returns home at 11:40 p.m.), 28 to and from Hanlan's (first leaves at 6:45 a.m., last returns 11 p.m.), and 25 to and from Ward's (first departs at 6:30 a.m., last returns at 11:45 p.m.).

The times between trips varies from half an hour at best to one hour and 20 minutes at most.