‘We’re Ecstatic’: Gagetown Ferry Returns

Residents in the Gagetown and Jemseg areas have won a years-long battle to get their ferry back.

The province announced Monday the Gagetown ferry would return as a seasonal service in July.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Wilf Hiscock, a member of the Save Gagetown-Jemseg ferry committee, on Monday.

“We’re very thankful that we finally have a government that listened to us. The premier and ministers [Bill] Oliver and [Ross] Wetmore, they’ve worked hard on this and we’re very, very happy to have it back.”

The ferry service was scrapped by the previous Liberal government in Feb. 2016 as a cost-saving measure.

The Higgs government had said it was committed to bringing back the ferry, but did not offer a solid date until now.

Hiscock credits community members for their work to keep the issue front and centre.

“I feel that without the effort of the communities involved in holding all these rallies and so on and so forth, after a while it would have been forgot. Five years is a long time,” he said.

Unlike the old year-round ferry service, this new one will run 12 hours a day, seven days a week until the fall.

But Hiscock said community members are OK with that because it will run during the busiest time of year for tourism.

The Gagetown resident said not having a ferry for the past several years has had a big impact on the area.

“Some of the businesses were suffering. Farmers were cut off completely from their farms. Tourism was way, way down,” said Hiscock.

“The ferry is absolutely necessary for this area.”

The ferry will make its first trek across the Saint John River on July 1. The hours of operation have yet to be decided, said Hiscock.

According to the province, there are currently six crossings on the Saint John and Kennebecasis rivers operating free of charge and serving more than 3.5 million passengers each year.