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Accessible airport transportation options in Toronto
Accessible airport transportation options in Toronto
Hello,
I need to give a talk about accessible transportation contrasting Japan (where I live now) and Canada (where I am from). However, I always went by car in Canada, so I’m not really an expert!
The last time I was in Canada and went home from the airport I used a hired wheelchair van.
What public transit options are available? Are there buses etc that stop at Toronto’s Pearson Airport? If so, are they regular buses, or the kind with steps up and room for suitcases below?
Thanks!
- 7 Replies
Thanks! I’ll look those
Are there any buses from Pearson to Union Station, like the GO Bus? (The company wants me to talk about buses, since they are a bus company.)
Fantastic, thank you!
Hey Josh,
You want an accessible route, I’ve taken them all. The 52 that leaves Pearson and heads across Dixon then Lawrence all the way to Yonge, 24 hrs, every 15 to 25 mins. Lawrence west stn is accessible, but Lawrence is not. The 191 goes to subway Kipling Stn, which us accessible.
The UP is great and now cheaper than it was. Super Accessible abs stops in Weston (by my Church), on the Bloor line and finishes at Union.
There are accessible taxi cabs that work for Pearson, like the limos. There are only two and only one at night. They don’t save them for people who have disabilities, so you have to wait in line. I literally watched a family of three get in one, while I waited. I pointed it out that I could only take that one and they could take any. They were annoyed, the driver was annoyed, but my client and I were on our way home. You can order an outside taxi, but it’s hard for them to find you and pick you up.
You can also register for Wheeltrans as a visitor and they will pick you up too. You have pre book.
In Vancouver theres the Skytrain. That is very helpful and all their busses are accessible. They also have specialized transit you can pre register for.
NY isn’t great. They have buses, but they’re usually packed. Then again, I have so much love for the driver that yelled at people to get back in a Bronx accent and then told me to just start crushing legs, hahaha. They have a lot of taxis though which is nice. Only some of their subway stns are accessible. But, you can get to the main spots and downtown Manhattan. They have specialized transit too.
Caribbean countries, you need to pre book your taxi. Often, they need to ship the taxi to the island you’re at.
France is great and has accessible taxis. All busses are accessible, but not all subways.
Ottawa has a Express bus from the airport and train stn that is accessible. All their busses are. They have specialized transit. It works well.
Montreal has very few accessible subway stns. All their busses are accessible, but often packed. They have specialized transit and I like to use it when going more than walking distance.
If you take specialized transit in your city, you can often sign up in the city you’re going to.
That’s all I got. Let me know if you want any other questions.
Wow Marj! Thank you for such a great answer!! I will definitely use the info for my presentation, and be sure I crush a lot of legs 😛
I know this is a post about Toronto and bus services, but if you are writing about accessible bus service, here is a bit from Brussels (and a picture to boot!). We found that buses are frequent in Brussels and had a mostly positive experience. We didn’t try the metro because you have to pre-book for assistance and we wanted more flexibility.
As for easy boarding/getting off, we were 2 for 3 on the buses that we took (line 27). Two times the ramp deployed, one time it was broken. Even still, the bus ‘knelt’ down and we could board and get off the bus in a manual wheelchair with a bit of assistance without the ramp (probably not possible in an electric wheelchair). Sorry I can’t give you results from a bigger sample size!
Some routes in Brussels are identified as being “more” accessible. (I assume this means the ramp will always work??) Check this his page out:
http://www.stib-mivb.be/article.html?l=en&_guid=d0f0d466-1483-3410-45af-9748427ab131
As you can see, line 27 that we took isn’t on the list, but it was still possible to ride in a wheelchair.
The bus routes from the airport are on the list as “more” accessible (Routes 12 and 21). Good service every 10 to 20 minutes. I ride the bus to the airport frequently, but I have yet to see a wheelchair on it. However, the buses are the same type as the ones we rode elsewhere in the city so I wouldn’t foresee any problems getting on.
Thank you for the input everyone!
Just a follow up question about the GO Transit highway buses, so they are ALL accessible? Do they require advance booking? Or can you just show up and get a ticket? And the issue is less with accessibility of buses, than the stations?
Thanks again!
Thanks for sharing the details.It ll help me lot.
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