Halifax business leaders concerned with delays to ferry service

Many businesses are frustrated with ongoing delays with Halifax ferries.

It’s been a rough ride lately for ferries running between Dartmouth and Halifax.

“I think there’s a lot of frustration,” says Paul MacKinnon, CEO of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission.

Two of the five ferries the municipality owns are out of commission. The Craig Blake is undergoing regular inspections as well as a significant repair that will keep it out of the water until later this year.

The Vincent Coleman went to have its steering fixed on Jan. 6, but further issues and difficulty in getting parts will keep it out of commission for the foreseeable future.

As a result, service will be reduced from every 15 minutes to every half hour, even during peak times.

“Consistency is really important to make that connection between downtown Halifax and downtown Dartmouth and of course Woodside as well. So, yeah, it’s frustrating when it’s not working consistently,” MacKinnon says.

The decrease in frequency has Tim Rissesco, the head of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Association, concerned people will choose to forego the ferry altogether.

“If you want people to use public transit, you need to make it a reliable service that people want to use,” Rissesco says.

In addition to encouraging the city to operate reliable transit service, both Rissesco and MacKinnon think the ferry operating between Halifax and Dartmouth should be free for all users.

Another issue is the Halifax Transit website incorrectly shows the ferry is still running every 15 minutes.

“That shows a lot of disrespect for the ridership, that they can’t keep the information up to date on the website,” Rissesco says.

Despite the delays, some passengers like Mark Hebert say the ferry is a better option than driving.

“It avoids the traffic on the bridge so for me, I enjoy my 10-minute commute across the harbour, get to read my book a little bit and I’m home on the other side.”

The Halifax to Dartmouth ferry is the oldest saltwater service in North America, dating back to the mid-1700s.

The current fleet is between seven and 12 years old.

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