MARYSVILLE — Planned changes to the schedule for the Wolfe Islander III will create 90-minute gaps in service around the lunch hour.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation announced the changes last week and the new schedule is to take effect on Sept. 1.

There are to still be 19 round trips each day, but after the ferry leaves the island at 9:30 a.m., the next trip to Kingston will be at 11. Likewise, after the ferry leaves Kingston at 10:30 a.m., the next trip to the island will be at noon.

There are also 90-minute gaps between the 10 and 11:30 p.m. trips from Kingston and the 10:30 p.m. and midnight trips from Wolfe Island.

At night, there is to be a 90-minute gap between the last three trips from the island at 10:30 p.m., midnight and 1:30 a.m., and between the trips from Kingston at 10 and 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. and 2, “The ministry understands that any changes to the ferry schedule can affect passengers’ commute and daily routines,” MTO spokesperson Brandy Duhaime said in an email to the Whig-Standard. “We did take all of these factors into account as we finalized the changes to the schedule.”

The changes were made to accommodate crew shift changes, lunch, maintenance and fuelling requirements.

“We regret we are not able to accommodate everybody’s preferences and we hope that Wolfe Islander III passengers will come to see the benefit of the new schedule,” Duhaime said.

Duhaime noted that the current schedule includes 75-minute gaps between the 7:45 and 9 a.m. trips and between the noon and 1:15 p.m. trips, meaning that the overall different is 15 minutes.

“Providing these back to back can help make up time lost during the day and should help schedule and complete ferry maintenance, fuelling, in the non-peak times with lesser impacts,” she wrote.

“We do apologize for the inconvenience these changes may cause. We have attempted to minimize the impacts while continuing to meet our operational goals of providing a safe and reliable service for our users and crew.”

The Wolfe Islander III’s new schedule as of Sept. 1 will be:

From Wolfe Island: 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30 and 11 a.m.; 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30 and 10:30 p.m.; and 12 and 1:30 a.m.

From Kingston: 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10:30 a.m.; 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11:30 p.m.; and 12:30 and 2 a.m.

elferguson@postmedia.com