Halifax councillor looking to change ferry service for special events, holidays

A motion is going to Halifax council on Tuesday in hopes of the city reviewing how ferry schedules run during special events and holidays.

The move by District 5 Coun. Sam Austin comes as the Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ships Festival ends its visit to Halifax harbour.

During the Tall Ships, long lineups filled both ferry terminals in Halifax and Dartmouth on numerous occasions. The main issue, as laid out in Austin’s motion, is that the ferry operates once every 30 minutes. There were some alterations made on Sunday, with a 15-minute service being provided between 11:15 a.m. to 7 p.m., but that wasn’t enough for the overall weekend.

READ MORE: Thousands flock to Halifax, Dartmouth waterfronts for Tall Ships Regatta

“There’s a lot of frustration from folks about the wait,” Austin told Global News.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's a lot of frustration from folks about the wait," Austin told Global News.

On Tuesday, Austin is hoping council will vote to have a review of ferry schedules during special events.

Current labour standards restrict how many days ferry crew members can work, but the union believes a discussion with the city around changing the standard could lead to a staffing solution.

“The ferry’s different than a bus,” Austin said. “We don’t have a huge pool of staff that we can just call out and you need at least four or five for each boat, so it’s not as flexible.”

WATCH: Tourists descended on the waterfront by the thousands to check out the nearly 30 tall ships calling on Halifax as part of the Tall Ships Regatta. Marieke Walsh takes us inside two of the most popular ships.

2:02 Thousands flock to Halifax, Dartmouth waterfronts for Tall Ships Regatta

Ken Wilson with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 508 said the union wants to work on a “collaborative approach” which could even be a variance to the Department of Labour.

“What a variance does is it’s for a period of time and it ensures that a worker will have a day of rest if wanted but can work a maximum of, it could be 13, 14 days straight, as long as you’re guaranteed to have that 15th day off, but you’re not compelled to work,” Wilson said.

A transit ferry was used by Waterfront Development to charter people to George’s Island but Halifax spokesperson Nick Ritcey said that was a different situation.

“They employed their own crew to work the weekend,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They employed their own crew to work the weekend," he said.

The city says the arrangement is cost-neutral, but it’s a move the union says is an unfavourable one.

READ MORE: Sails equal sales?: Local Halifax businesses brace for Tall Ships weekend

“We could have essentially had an extra ferry, with a full crew running, taking more people out of the ferry terminal, bringing them over to Halifax but that boat was allocated to George’s Island,” Wilson said.

Austin’s motion wants the city to look at more ferry service for events like the Tall Ships, Halifax Pride, the Parade of Lights and the Mooseheads playoffs, as well as holidays including Canada Day and Natal Day.