Arriving by
air ,
you'll almost certainly land
at Toronto's main airport,
Lester
B. Pearson International ,
about 25km northwest of the
city centre. There are three
terminals - terminals 2 and 3
are where most international
flights arrive, and terminal 1
handles the majority of
domestic flights. Each of the
terminals has a full range of
facilities, including
money-exchange offices, ATMs
and free hotel hotlines. The
Airport
Express bus service
(daily: one every twenty
minutes 6am-1am, every thirty
minutes 1am-5.30am; tel
905/564-6333) picks up
passengers outside the
terminals and takes between
forty and sixty minutes to
reach downtown, though heavy
traffic can make the journey
considerably longer. The bus
drops passengers at the bus
station
and several of Toronto's major
hotels, with connecting
minibuses taking passengers to
most of the other downtown
hotels. Tickets for the
airport bus can be purchased
either at the kiosks next to
the bus stop outside the
terminal buildings or from the
driver. A one-way fare is
$13.75, round-trip $23.65; the
minibus service costs an extra
$3 (round-trip $5). Round-trip
tickets are valid for one
year. Alternatively, there's
an airport
limo service
(a shared-taxi system) next to
each terminal's bus platform;
limos cost about $30 per
person for the journey from
the airport to the city centre;
they only leave when they're
full. Individual
taxis
charge approximately $40 from
the airport to downtown
Toronto. Lastly, a subsidiary
of Air Canada, Air Ontario (tel
1-888/247-2262, within Toronto
tel 416/925-2311) operates
flights from Montréal, Ottawa
and London, Ontario, into the
much smaller
Toronto City
Centre Airport , which is
on Hanlan's Point in Toronto's
harbour, close to downtown.
From the airport, there's a
free minibus service to the
Royal
York Hotel downtown. The
minibus uses the car ferry
that connects the airport to
the mainland from the foot of
Bathurst Street.
Well connected to most of
the major towns of eastern
Canada, Toronto's bus
station is conveniently
located downtown on Edward
Street at Bay Street, metres
from Dundas Street West. The
nearest subway station is a
five-minute walk east at Yonge
and Dundas. If you're arriving
at night, note that the bus
station's immediate environs
are unsavoury, but it only
takes a couple of minutes to
reach more reassuring parts of
downtown. Nonetheless, if
you're travelling alone or
late at night, it's probably
best to take a taxi.
Union Railway Station
is also in the downtown core,
at the junction of Bay Street
and Front Street West, and has
regular services from the
larger cities of Ontario and
Québec, supplemented by more
occasional trains from the
Maritime Provinces, the
Prairies and Vancouver. In
addition, the station is the
hub of Toronto's public
transport system. The station
complex includes a subway
station and holds the main
terminal for the GO trains and
buses that service the city's
suburbs. Details of GO
services are available at
their ticket offices here, or
call toll-free tel 1-888/438
6646, within Toronto tel
416/869-3200. Note also that
Ontario Northland, who operate
trains north to Cochrane and
the Polar Bear Express to
Moosonee
have an information desk in
the main hall.
Arriving by car from
Niagara Falls and points along
Lake Ontario, traffic
approaches the city along the QEW
(Queen Elizabeth Way), which
funnels into the Gardiner
Expressway , an elevated
motorway that cuts across the
southern side of downtown,
just south of Front Street.
From the east and west, the
quickest approach is on Hwy
401 , which sweeps through
the city's suburbs north of
the downtown core. Driving in
from the north, take Hwy
400 , which intersects
with Hwy 401 northwest of the
centre, or Hwy 404 ,
which meets Hwy 401 northeast
of the centre. Note that on
all routes you can expect
delays during rush hours
(roughly 7.30-9.30am and
4.30-6.30pm). To relieve
congestion on Hwy 401, an
alternative motorway, Hwy
407ETR , has been built
further north on the city's
edge. It was North America's
first all-electronic toll
highway: instead of toll
booths, vehicles are
identified either by an
electronic tag or a license
plate photo, and the invoice
is posted later. Toll charges
vary according to the time of
day, the day of the week and
the distance travelled. During
peak periods (Mon-Fri
5.30-9.30am and 4-7pm), the
charge is 10¢ per kilometre,
daytime off-peak costs 8¢,
night time 4¢. If you rent a
car, be aware that rental
companies slap on an extra
administration charge (of
around $10) if you take their
vehicles on this road.
