Skip traffic and take a ferry to work? Waterfront Toronto looking into new commuting option

What if you could hop on a water taxi and skip Toronto highway traffic?

Waterfront Toronto, an organization that oversees revitalization projects along the city’s lakefront, is looking into alternatives when it comes to the daily commute.

Specifically they want to analyze the feasibility of a ferry service that could move people between waterfront neighbourhoods. The agency has issued a request for proposals for a water taxi and sea bus study.

“The revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront has had an impact on the marine uses in this area, resulting in a growing demand and interest in Lake Ontario by water-based recreation and transportation,” reads the request for proposals.

“Waterfront neighbourhoods are being transformed with new and improved transportation networks that prioritize walkability and cycling, as well as provide access to the existing and planned local and regional transit infrastructure.”

Waterfront Toronto is looking at a three-tiered expansion, which could include augmenting the existing ferry service with more trips and additional destinations. It would also include a new sea bus network that would have additional routes and ports set up like a commuter bus service.

Related: Construction on Toronto Port Lands, Love Park projects closer to finishing

The agency says there are a number of infrastructure and public transit project in the works for the waterfront, but most focus on “land-based public realm aspects.”

“Waterfront Toronto plans to encourage activity range from boardwalks and pedestrian bridges to better connect different piers on the waterfront, new waterfront destinations, mixed use areas, and year-round programming,” reads the request.

The organization named two companies last year that will develop a swath of lakeside land a Google affiliate once hoped to turn into a high-tech neighbourhood. The companies intend to bring 800 affordable housing units and a two-acre forested green space with an urban farm sitting atop a residential mass timber building to the 12-acre site in downtown Toronto.

Hoverlink Ontario announced last year it will launch a rapid transit route between Toronto and the Niagara Region in the summer of 2023. However in an update earlier this year the company said the launch date was being pushed back due to “complexities” with the project.

The service would see large-scale hovercrafts moving passengers across Lake Ontario between St. Catharines and Ontario Place in 30 minutes. A trip that usually takes up to three hours by car.

With files from The Canadian Press