More daily ferry trips now available to Toronto Islands but people question schedule cuts

The City of Toronto's spring schedule for ferries to the islands kicked in this month, meaning visitors have more trips to more docks than during the limited winter timetable.

But, as residents look forward to a busy summer season enjoying Hanlan's Point, the Centreville Amusement Park and all of the other sights and activities that draw people to the archipelago, some wonder why this latest schedule is markedly different from last year.

Using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, one can see that the spring schedule posted to the City's website in April 2023 had more trips to some docks than the updated page currently shows.

On the left, a version of the City of Toronto's spring ferry schedule from April 20, 2023 that shows more trips to Centre Island than this year's spring schedule, shown on the right.

This year, there appears to be 22 per cent fewer ferry trips offered to Centre Island (14 in spring 2024 vs. 18 last spring) and 46 per cent fewer to Hanlan's Point (7 trips this spring vs. 13 last). The number of trips to and from Ward's Island remains the same.

Though this was drawn to blogTO's attention by a concerned reader, the City insists that records show that the new calendar features only "slightly adjusted departure times" and "minimally reduced trips" that were made in response to measured customer demand.

However, some feel that with schedules already reduced compared to pre-pandemic and more people than ever wanting to enjoy the destination, further culling departures seems counterintuitive.

On the left, a version of the City of Toronto's spring ferry schedule from April 20, 2023 that shows more trips to Hanlan's Point than this year's spring schedule, shown on the right.

Island-goers will have to wait and see how bad ferry lineups end up being and how packed the boats are come peak season in a few weeks' time to determine if these amendments were the right or wrong move by the City.