Article content continued

There is little point complaining about it: that service level is guaranteed by the 1993 Toronto Islands Residential Community Stewardship Act, which granted the long-term leases and cemented the island neighbourhoods’ future. Still it is a frustrating state of affairs. As you read this, the entire frozen Toronto Islands are yours to discover. You might not see another soul, and you’ll never wait more than an hour for a ferry. In the summer, however, when people flock to the islands — nearly 370,000 ferry passengers in August alone — they have to endure notoriously interminable queues.

You could argue it at least keeps crowds manageable on the island side, if getting there weren’t so bloody expensive: $21.50 for a family of four is no small thing for many people in this city, and redistributing the islanders’ share more fairly would still leave a distasteful financial barrier between the city’s greatest public asset and its citizens.

The islands weren’t even islands until 1858, yet we treat them like the bloody Galapagos. A normal city would have bridged or tunnelled the eastern and western gaps for pedestrians ages ago, and left any remaining ferry demand to the private sector. Instead, the city is planning to replace the ferry fleet, with four new ones expected between 2019 and 2033 at a projected cost of $41.5 million.

They ought to alleviate crowding, at least. But in my view access to the islands deserves a more comprehensive rethink: if not terrestrial access of some sort then free or vastly cheaper ferries. The ferry service’s gross expenses are about $8 million a year — not chump change, but not crippling either. I ain’t no pinko, but absent a compelling reason otherwise, I don’t think you should have to pay to get into a city park. A couple of hundred metres of open water on either side have never compelled me in the slightest.

• Email: cselley@nationalpost.com | Twitter: cselley