TORONTO, Ont. – Torontonians and tourists to the city will have to wait a lot longer at the ferry dock if they’re heading to the Toronto islands.

New regulations have forced the Thomas Rennie and Sam McBride — two double-decker ferries that shuttle people to the islands — to cut their passenger loads by half.

The two ferries can now only let 500 people onboard, down from 975, due to Transport Canada restrictions.

According to the Toronto Star, the new standards were put into place to meet international standards for passenger vessels.

The criteria uses a mathematical formula that balances the weight of the ship to the total passenger weight, in order to ensure that a vessel can stay afloat and right itself in the event of an accident that causes damage to the hull.

“Are there any safety issues that were there previously? And if there weren’t, why are these regulations there? And secondly, what can we do to remove them,” said Councillor Norm Kelly, who chairs city’s Parks and Environment Committee.

The new regulations apply only to new vessel, but because the Toronto ferries have been upgraded recently, they are considered new.