All it would’ve taken was a small amount of enthusiasm and very few bucks. Did you ever see the docking area? Cripes, it was like stepping off board onto Stelco territory. As far as I know, a decent number of Americans came over while the service was running, and presumably they spent some bucks in the city, so it’s not as though TO was getting absolutely nothing out of it.
Anyway, it’s not the first Lake Ontario ferry service to go belly up, but I thought this one had a shot. Just sad to see it fail.
I lived in Great Falls, MT for three years. There was minimal influence of Calgary (or any Canadian presence) there, and I’ll personally vouch that there was more Canadian influence in Minot, North Dakota than there ever was in Great Falls.
Why? Great Falls, MT is bigger than Minot, and Minot tended to cater more to Canadians. I think the family ties of Scandinavians brought a lot more people into Minot for the HostFest than any rodeo or ‘national event’ could bring into Great Falls.
As for driving, I’ve been to Winnipeg and Regina from Minot, but only to Lethbridge from Great Falls. I always thought (and heard) Calgary was a further drive, but that’s only as the crows fly. . .
Tripler
Yup. Them Montana crows can fly far. . . or something.
Hey, I’m from Moose Jaw! (Born there, anyway - I don’t admit that to a lot of people.)
For the record, Canada/US border crossing is going to require passports or some other secure document showing citizenship for all crossings come January 1, 2008. Passports are required for boats and planes now.
Yep. Calgary is a good two hours beyond my parents’ place (for the record, you spent the night in Barons, Alberta; population 327). And the only reason you didn’t make it to Calgary is that you punked out on the Stampede.
Well, Toronto took their usual tactic of talking and talking until the first opportunity had passed, and then played catchup, thus shooting themselves in the foot, so that’s not a surprise. But that wouldn’t have stopped a more profitable service. I think the thing was marginal enough that it only tool a few confluencing factors to kill it: Toronto’s delays in building their ferry terminal, the year’s delay in getting permission to transport trucks, the ship’s engine troubles, the lack of strong desire on the part of Torontonians to go south, perhaps too large a ship (did you ever go down to Cherry Beach and see it coming in? It was huge!), etc.
IME, it’s not all increased security, it’s traffic. More often than not, it’s a frinkin’ PITA to try to go through Blaine any time after, say, noon Thursday through 10 p.m. Sunday, in both directions.
There isn’t a fence. You can go into Peace Arch Park and then walk across, but why? Then you’re in BC on foot and it’s not like there’s a shopping mall two blocks over. And yes, you can cross the border on foot in lots of places, all along the US/CA border, but again – why? I assume most people cross the border at the crossings, in their cars, and legally. And that can be a real PITA.
I can also relay from personal experience that whatever time the U.S. authorities are going to start requiring people to cross with a passport, they have already begun hassling U.S. citizens who try to cross without one: Why don’t you have one? When are you going to get one? You need to have one. When I got shirty with them and informed them I didn’t have one because I knew full well I didn’t need one, I then got to cool my heels for an hour while they searched my car. I finally went and got a passport so they’d stop giving me a hard time. Just like they wanted.
A big problem with the ferry, from what I could tell, was that there was no particular reason for Torontonians to pony up the cash to fund the necessary infrastructure - at the time - as very few people around here really wanted to go to Rochester.
All that may be changed with the rise of the Canadian dollar though - a pleasant jaunt across the lake for a day of shopping may have appeal, now.
