Pearson Airport Transportation

What transportation is there to and from Pearson Airport?

This page is the map of all of it. If you already know you want a chauffeur for a single journey, the Pearson limo page is shorter. If you are trying to decide between a train, a shuttle and a car for a particular trip, or you have a day with several stops, or twenty people landing on three flights, read on.

Public transport from Pearson

The UP Express runs from Terminal 1 to Union Station every fifteen minutes, takes about 25 minutes, and the adult one-way fare is a little over twelve dollars at the time of writing; children 12 and under ride free, and the free Terminal Link train connects Terminal 3 to the platform. It is the right answer for a solo traveller with hand luggage heading near Union. The TTC 900 Airport Express bus runs to Kipling station on the Line 2 subway for a standard fare and is the budget route to the west end. GO Transit route 40 links Pearson to Hamilton and Burlington via Square One in Mississauga, and other GO buses reach York Region and Durham with transfers. All of them stop at a station, not at your door, and all of them stop being convenient at the second suitcase.

Taxis, walk-up limos and rideshare

The GTAA licenses the taxis and limos in the arrivals-level lines and sets their fares as published zone flat rates, with limos about 10 % above taxis. Rideshare cars collect from designated zones in the parking garages at both terminals. All three work for the passenger who did not book and is going inside the zone map; none of them knows your flight, waits for free, or guarantees a six-seat vehicle. The flat-rate page compares the numbers honestly.

Format one: the fixed-fare transfer

One pickup, one drop, one fare. The reservation engine quotes it for the exact address and vehicle class; the chauffeur tracks the flight, waits at the terminal door — or inside the arrivals hall with a name board if you add meet and greet — beside the pre-arranged desk near Door A at Terminal 1, in the arrivals hall by baggage claim at Terminal 3 — carries the luggage, and drives. Sixty minutes of waiting are included from touchdown on international arrivals, thirty on domestic; tolls, airport fees and taxes are inside the fare; the return leg can be added to the same booking with the departure pickup planned backwards from the check-in cut-off. It is the format most people mean by "airport transportation," and it is described in detail on the pickup page and the departures page.

Format two: the hourly chauffeur

Some airport days are not a transfer. Land at 10 am, a meeting in the Airport Corporate Centre at noon, a second one downtown at 3, a client dinner, a hotel by 10 pm. Or land, drive to Niagara, two wineries, dinner in Niagara-on-the-Lake, back to a Toronto hotel. Or land at Pearson and collect the keys from a rental agency, stop for groceries and reach a cottage in Muskoka. Those are booked by the hour: one vehicle, one chauffeur for the duration, the itinerary shared the evening before, and no extra-stop arithmetic. Hourly bookings carry a minimum shown at booking and overtime to the next full hour; the chauffeur waits wherever you are, and the car is yours between stops for bags, coats and laptops. Investor roadshows, site tours, board visits and the Niagara day are the classic uses, and the Niagara and Muskoka route pages describe the cottage and wine-country versions.

Format three: groups

A wedding party, a sports team, a conference delegation, a tour group, a crew. The Executive Sprinter carries fourteen with luggage; the Mini Coach thirty-two with under-floor bays. For guests arriving on different flights, we run successive sedans meeting each flight and gathering at one pre-arranged point in the arrivals hall, or hold the Sprinter until the last flight lands. One reservation, one confirmation, one invoice. Conference organisers moving delegates from Pearson to a downtown hotel block, and tour operators running Niagara days from the airport hotels, book the coach on a standing schedule. The private airport shuttle page covers the group formats in detail.

Choosing the format: a short guide

• One journey, any distance: the fixed-fare transfer.
• A day with two or more stops, or waiting between them: hourly.
• More than six people, or more than five large bags in one vehicle: a group vehicle.
• Guests on several flights: successive sedans or a held Sprinter — tell us every flight number.
• A layover with a hotel night: the transfer, with the return leg to the right terminal in the morning; the airport hotels page explains the strip.

If it is unclear, book the transfer and put the extra stop in the notes; the engine will price it, and we will tell you if the hourly format would have been cheaper.

Accessible transportation

Passengers who use a wheelchair, walker or mobility scooter, and passengers who need a hand from the gate, are booked with the requirement in the notes so that the right vehicle and the right chauffeur are assigned. The GTAA's own accessibility services provide assistance from the aircraft to the arrivals hall; our chauffeur takes over at the meeting point. Folding wheelchairs travel in any class; the SUV and the Sprinter take larger equipment. Tell us at booking and there is no extra charge for the planning.

Every address, both directions, every hour

Every Ontario address is quoted by the engine, the route pages cover the journeys people ask about most, and the cross-border page covers the United States. The service runs 24 hours; the chauffeur watches the Ontario 511 boards on our live traffic page and takes the 407 when it is faster, with the toll inside the fare. Corporate travel managers put all three formats on one corporate account with cost centres and a monthly invoice.

Book a transfer or an hourly car

Both terminals

Air Canada and Star Alliance use Terminal 1; WestJet, Porter's Pearson flights, Air Transat, Sunwing and most other international carriers use Terminal 3. The booking asks for the flight number and we work out the terminal and the meeting point; the terminal finder does the same for you, and the Pearson complete guide shows every door, desk and shuttle stop.

What the confirmation contains

Every booking returns an email with the format, the pickup, the destination or itinerary, the time, the flight numbers we are tracking, the vehicle class and the fare or hourly rate; on the day it is followed by the chauffeur's name and the vehicle plate. Changes are a reply or a call at any hour. Flight changes are free; itinerary and class changes are re-quoted by the engine.

Private aviation: FBO pickups at Pearson and the regional airports

Corporate and charter aircraft do not use the passenger terminals. At Pearson they park at the FBOs on the airport's general-aviation side — Skyservice and Signature among them — and at Billy Bishop, Waterloo and Hamilton at each field's own FBO. A pre-arranged chauffeur meets the aircraft ramp-side at the FBO: give us the operator, the tail number and the ETA, and the vehicle is at the FBO door when the aircraft parks, with the luggage moved directly from the hold. Corporate flight departments run it on a corporate account with the same monthly invoice as the airline travel; the Waterloo airport page describes the regional FBO pickup.

Cruise ports and the ship-to-airport transfer

Toronto's cruise terminal at the Port of Toronto on Cherry Street receives Great Lakes cruise ships from spring to autumn, and their passengers arrive at Pearson from everywhere. The transfer from the terminal to the ship — or from the ship to a Pearson departure timed to the check-in cut-off — is a fixed-fare booking like any other; guides to the cruise ports a Toronto traveller uses, from Montreal and Quebec City to Vancouver and the US ports, are being added to this site.

Long-distance and cross-border transportation

The formats above apply at any distance. Muskoka, London, Kingston and Ottawa are fixed-fare transfers of two to four hours; Montreal is a day. Across the border, Buffalo and Niagara Falls NY are two hours, Detroit four, New York eight — the hourly format is not used for those; the transfer is quoted as a fixed fare with the bridge toll inside it, and the cross-border page explains the documents and the crossings.

The seven airports on one engine

Transportation to and from Pearson is the core, but the same booking engine and the same standard cover Billy Bishop, Hamilton, Waterloo, London, Buffalo and Niagara Falls NY — including the airport-to-airport connections no airline organises.

Public-transport fares and times, for the record

For a traveller who decides the train is right, here are the figures at the time of writing, all subject to the operators' own pages: the UP Express adult one-way fare is a little over twelve dollars, with discounts for return, seniors and PRESTO users and free travel for children 12 and under; the TTC 900 bus is a standard TTC fare with a two-hour transfer; GO fares are by distance. The UP Express runs from about 4:55 am to 1 am; the TTC 900 runs around the clock at reduced overnight frequency; GO route 40 runs hourly or better through the day. The Pearson complete guide shows where each departs from at both terminals.

The chauffeur's radio: how we watch the roads

Every vehicle on a Pearson run is watched by a dispatcher with the Ontario 511 event feed, the 407's traffic camera network and the airport's own flight board open. A closure on the 427 at 6 am moves every pickup that uses it; a wide-body diversion to Hamilton is known in the office before the passengers know it in the cabin. It is unglamorous, and it is the reason the fixed fare can be fixed.

Booking, in one paragraph

Enter the pickup, the destination or the itinerary, the date, the time or the flight number, and the passengers and bags; choose the class the engine offers; see the fare; confirm. The email arrives within a minute; the chauffeur's name and plate arrive on the day.