Several solutions have been proposed to address severe overcrowding at Toronto's Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, but one idea could curb the long lines and become a new iconic means of getting to and from the islands.

While exploration of a bridge is ongoing at City Hall, one councillor has publicly stated that a viaduct spanning the eastern gap between the Port Lands and Ward's Island would impact shipping and the cruise industry, and experts have similarly cast doubt on the feasibility of a bridge.

Others have floated solutions to the ferry crunch, like Olivia Chow's approved motion to explore leasing temporary ferries to curb overcrowding until new all-electric vessels are delivered, and even third-party ideas pitched via social media, like a new LRT connection.

However, while all of these ideas focus on access to the islands, they all ignore one of the key reasons people line up in long queues to board the City-owned ferries: they're kind of iconic.

Water taxi prices are comparable, trips are faster, and lines are shorter, yet people still flock to the ferry docks en masse for that quintessential Toronto summer experience.

For something a bit more in tune with the tourist-friendly experience of a ferry, a local urban planner has shared an idea for a new aerial gondola that would connect Ward's Island with Cherry Beach, with a potential connection into Tommy Thompson Park.

Hear me out - The @cityoftoronto should consider installing a gondola lift system to connect Ward's Island, Cherry Beach, and potentially also Tommy Thompson Park. This is why.🧵 #TOpoli pic.twitter.com/C8E1JgG8EK

— Blair Scorgie (@BlairScorgie) August 2, 2024

Blair Scorgie shared a thread on X on Thursday night, detailing how an aerial gondola could serve as a high-capacity solution to Toronto's island-going woes, accommodating up to 6,000 passengers per hour per direction.

Scorgie and fellow Registered Professional Planner Sean Lee have developed a proposal asking Waterfront Toronto and the City to partner and "develop a gondola lift system, with the intent of connecting the Toronto Islands with the Port Lands and the surrounding urban environment."

As for concerns about shipping, gondolas offer high vertical clearance that would not limit tall ships' passage through the gap.

Scorgie also touts the safety and reliability of these systems, as well as the fiscal respnsibility in low capital costs per kilometre compared to a bridge or tunnel thanks to these systems' ease of construction and small footprint required.

In addition, they're much more environmentally friendly than other means of crossing bodies of water — especially the current fuel-burning ferries and water taxis.

Scorgie tells blogTO that "gondola lift systems can be designed to accommodate mobility devices, strollers and bicycles," adding that "cabins can be designed to accommodate the volume of users and range of mobility and transportation demands."

"Dual track systems allow for individual cabins to slow or stop during pick-up and drop-off without impacting overall system speed."

But aside from all of these benefits, a gondola system has one thing going for it that is hard to quantify in terms the same way as cost or efficiency: and that is wow factor.

Like New York's famous Roosevelt Island Tramway has become a symbol of that city, a gondola system could become a postcard-worthy icon of Toronto, serving as more than just a means to move people to and from the popular destinations on the islands.

Gondolas have also been successfully implemented to access major tourist destinations, like the Nations Park Gondola Lift in Lisbon, Portugal, as well as used as mass-transit systems for areas where traditional technology is not viable, like the TransMiCable gondola system operating in the hilly terrain of Bogota, Colombia.

In fact, discussions for such systems are already ongoing elsewhere in the GTA, including Simcoe Street in Oshawa and another that would link Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station on the TTC Line 1 with Canada's Wonderland.

Vaughan could get a new aerial gondola linking Wonderland to TTC subway https://t.co/PRd8Ek14tj #Vaughan #Ontario

— blogTO (@blogTO) June 13, 2023

There have even been recurring but unrealized plans to construct a gondola spanning the U.S.-Canada border between Detroit and Windsor.

While big plans often take well over a decade to realize in this town, Scorgie notes in the proposal that expediency is a key benefit of gondolas, writing that such systems "are pre-fabricated and partially assembled off-site, reducing the extent and timelines associated with on-site construction."