Torontonians may have an easier time getting to the Toronto Islands this summer as the city moves to expand the private water taxi industry.
A motion brought forward by Mayor Olivia Chow and passed by city council on Tuesday will allow water taxi operators to add more vessels to their fleets as demand for water taxi services grows.
The city charges $12,120 for an Island docking licence for vessels with a capacity of 12 people or less, like standard water taxis, according to an application form available online. Each additional boat under the same licencee is $2,940.
City spokesperson Shane Gerard told TorontoToday the city previously capped licence fees at $50,000 per operator. Some water taxi operators have surpassed that limit due to the size of their fleet, Gerard said, but Tuesday's motion effectively removes the cap on their operations.
The city's general manager of parks, forestry and recreation now has enhanced authority to negotiate licence agreements with water taxi operators at market rates for the next five years.
As of 2024, there are only five water taxi operators with a total of 53 boats permitted to dock at Toronto Island Park, including the Toronto Harbour Water Taxi and Tiki Taxi. Customer fares typically range from $12 to $13 for a crossing.
The city estimates that about 1.4 million people visit the Toronto Islands each year, though that number appears to be surging. Research conducted by the Waterfront Business Improvement Area (BIA) suggests there were as many as 3.6 million visits to the chain of islands in 2023 alone.
While the majority of island-goers take the city-run ferries to get to the popular summer destination, a significant number of Torontonians opt to use private water taxis — nearly 500,000 trips were taken in 2023 the Waterfront BIA found.
As part of Tuesday's motion, the general manager has also been directed to consult with water taxi operators about what barriers they face and how to maximize water taxi service to and from the Toronto Islands.
The efforts to expand Toronto’s water taxi service comes as the city is investing over $90 million to build two new Toronto Island ferries. The fully electric ferries are currently under construction and are expected to be delivered in late 2026 and early 2027.
Of the five ferries currently in the city’s fleet, the oldest is a whopping 114 years old. The Trillium was christened with a bottle of champagne in 1910 and she is now the last sidewheel-propelled vessel to sail the Great Lakes. The youngest Toronto Islands ferry, the Ongiara, is 61 years old.
Despite the old age of the ferries, the city maintains the vessels are in good working order.
The two new electric ferries will replace the Ongiara and another ferry, the William Inglis, and will have a combined capacity of 1,400 passengers, a 3.7 times increase in capacity compared to the older ferries.
As Toronto waits for the ferries, the city is looking to lease additional boats to provide more ferry service to and from the Toronto Islands.
