Hovering your way to Niagara Falls

The future is around the corner. Or in this case, across Lake Ontario.

A new hovercraft service is headed to Niagara, an eco-friendly, sustainable rapid transit route that will journey passengers from Port Weller, St. Catharines to Ontario Place, Toronto — and vice-versa — in just 30 minutes.

Commuters, visitors, tourists, and every person in between, will have easy access to Niagara Falls, the Shaw Festival, local vineyards and other tourists attractions, while Niagara residents can get to a Blue Jays game or a play in Toronto — and back the same night — without a 130-km journey on the QEW.

That was the intention behind Hoverlink Ontario Inc. when founder Chris Morgan came up with the idea over a decade ago.

Why spend hours on the highway when you can enjoy a trip over the water and help the planet?

Spending years researching, looking at transportation surveys and craft capabilities, Morgan said he was looking for ways to address the pressing need for a rapid transit solution, while being environmentally proactive by eliminating the number of cars on the highway.

“I know the angst of where all the traffic, the apex of nightmares, begins — traffic heading in and out of Brant Street where it all comes over the skyway and meets up with the world,” said Morgan, who is also Hoverlink’s chief executive officer.

“We’re a solution for those who travel within the Golden Horseshoe … We’re a choice. We’re just adding ourselves to that list for those people that are trying to find more time in their day.”

The plan is for Hoverlink to launch next summer, after a series of safety tests and the construction of terminal hangers in Port Weller and Toronto. Two high-speed hovercrafts, with the capacity to carry 180 passengers, will travel year-round — in all-weather conditions and temperatures — with up to 48 crossings per day.

Through the years-long process, Hoverlink has worked with all three levels of government, with one of its biggest hurdles getting the hovercraft certified to cross Lake Ontario. As Morgan and its team worked to get all the elements together, Hoverlink began looking at locations for a terminal in Niagara, meeting early in the process with Brian York, director of economic development with the City of St. Catharines.

In the initial meeting, both immediately selected Port Weller — a location that doesn’t run up to conflicting neighbourhoods and shorelines — and began collaborating with the St. Lawrence Seaway team.

In an email, York said the proposed Port Weller Terminal will operate along the west side of the canal, north of the Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, calling the hovercraft service an “exciting announcement for all of Niagara.”

“For decades, the City’s strategic waterfront location has made us a lucrative place for leveraging our shores for innovative business and marine transit solutions,” said York.

“Hoverlink’s proposed service has the ability to make transit more convenient, environmentally sustainable while drawing more visitors’ and boosting tourism and the local economy.”

Because Hoverlink’s craft hovers on a cushion of air above the water — two propulsion systems allow the crafts to float above the surface, one creating lift by pushing air down and the other propelling the craft forward — Morgan said it leaves no direct impact to sensitive marine life above and below the water’s surface, and will not disturb residents or businesses along the waterfront.

In those early municipal meetings, Morgan recalls repeatedly hearing the term “game changer” and he agrees.

“The two largest tourist locations in Ontario — arguably two of the top three in Canada — we’re connecting them,” said Morgan.

In the months leading up to next summer launch, a large part of the process will include involving the local community, with Hoverlink hosting an information session on Sept. 29 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Grantham Lions Club.

Dave DeRocco, president of the Port Weller Residents Association, said the association is “always encouraged to hear of new business adventures that target St. Catharines” and he hopes residents will attend the public meeting at the end of the month.

He added that he hopes the new city council (to be elected in October) will recognize the “important of offering its citizens a new free public boat launch,” and provide resident “equal access to enjoy Lake Ontario in their own pleasure craft.”

“It’s about that input,” said Morgan, who himself moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake with his family in 2018. “People who live in the backyard know the backyard better than someone just peering over the fence … be engaged, have that open dialogue.”

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