

Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





The City of Toronto is asking the makers of the Pokemon GO to move virtual beacons away from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal because players appear to crowd the area each day.

As many as five PokeStops, virtual beacons that draw in players of the virtual reality smartphone game, are situated in the immediate area around the ferry terminal, which already becomes congested during the summer months as thousands line up to board ferries to Toronto Island.

“We have asked the developer to remove or relocate the stops and gyms at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and will work with the developer to relocate stops to other more suitable parks,” Toronto Parks and Recreation spokesperson Matthew Cutler said in an email.

He said there are up to a dozen PokeStops and PokeGyms, areas where players can battle each other with digital monsters they have caught and trained in the game, in the areas around the terminal.

“This level of use and potential congestion is not sustainable,” Cutler said.

About 25,000 people travel to and from the island using the ferry terminal each day, Cutler said.

He says the city has been in touch with Niantic, the game’s developer, but so far has not been given a timeline regarding when PokeStops or PokeGyms will be moved away from the terminal.

On Tuesday afternoon, Imitaz Hosein sat on a planter embankment near the terminal, catching Pokemon and searching for special items needed to progress in the game.

“It’s the best spot in the city — you don’t get the same centralized focus of these PokeStops,” Hosein said. “They’re all right here, there’s a lot of Pokemon around these PokeStops so this is basically the place to be in Toronto right now.”

More than 30 million people have downloaded the app to their smartphone through official channels since it was first launched on July 6.