The Toronto Island Ferry ServiceA History |
TRANSFER POINTS Vol. 2, No. 4, March 1976 by Larry Partridge |
IN 1935 the WILLIAM INGLIS, the first of today's ferry fleet, was purchased new from the Toronto Drydock Company. This new, faster, diesel-powered boat eventually paved the way for replacement of the MAYFLOWER and PRIMROSE in 1938. In 1939 the 1,000 passenger SAM McBRIDE entered service, its capacity being 500 persons greater than the WILLIAM INGLIS. In 1958 the 1,000 passenger THOMAS RENNIE caused the retirement of the TRILLIUM. (It should be noted here that both the BLUEBELL and TRILLIUM could carry 1,450 passengers each.)
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The SAM McBRIDE under construction in the Toronto Drydock Company yard in July, 1939. This ferry's namesake was mayor of Toronto. |
Toronto Transportation Commission ferry service timetable from October 16th, 1942. |
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The christening of the THOMAS RENNIE on October 16, 1951. This vessel was named after a long-standing Toronto Harbour commissioner, who died the following year at age 84.
Toronto Transit Commission photo 18076 |
From left to right, the TRILLIUM, the SAM McBRIDE, the THOMAS RENNIE, the WILLIAM INGLIS and the T.J. CLARK are all lined up at the docks in this 1956 aerial photograph. A PCC car heads east on Queen's Quay in front of the terminal. |
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The last major changes in the fleet, with the exception of the reintroduction of the TRILLIUM, were the introduction of the automobile ferry ONGIARA in 1960, to transport both passengers and vehicles to the Island, and the retirement of harbour tug NED HANLAN in 1966. The NED HANLAN had, for several years, provided winter ferry service to the Island for those residents who made their living on the mainland.
The ferries remained under the control of the Toronto Transit Commission [which had replaced the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1954] until the end of the 1961 season, up to which time the service never made a profit. From 1926 and a deficit of $647, the TTC ended operation of the ferry service in 1961 with a debt—which was larger than the one of $354,000 experienced in 1954—and was more than the City had paid out for the entire fleet in 1926.
During the years of turmoil and right up to the end, the TTC received numerous complaints over its service. It refused to provide winter ferries, and the TTC received fierce competition in the form of water taxis, which forced it to get many court orders to stop the rivalry for business.
Embarrassment is a mild word for what the TTC suffered over the years as a result of operating the ferries and the colossal blunder made by City Hall in 1926, but the real embarrassment came at the end of the 1961 season, when the service was finally removed from its control and put under the command of the Metropolitan Toronto Parks department, after Metro offered $1 for the fleet.
Today, with the restored TRILLIUM now a part of the active fleet and the present amusement facilities on Centre Island, plus the fact that the Island is the only real "cooling off" place in the central city during the summer, the Toronto Island ferry service continues on, providing a unique service and serving as a reminder of when, once upon a time in North America, a municipally-owned transit system could lay claim to being the only one to operate a ferry service, using the same tickets and fares as it had for its street railways and buses.
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