Getting to Pearson

[danbrotherston]

To be honest, I find that an ironic statement.  For me, traveling to Pearson, the mode is irrelevant so long as I'm on the 401.  The singular source of anxiety I have getting to my flight is whether there will be an accident on the 401.  If there is, it doesn't matter if I'm in a car or bus I will probably miss my flight.  The ONLY solution to that is getting frequent GO train service.

I take probably 20-30 flights per year from YYZ, mostly for work.  I drive for my short US trips (6:30 AM departure so leave Kitchener at 4 AM!) and either drive or take Blackcar for long ones.  I don't stress traffic, I leave enough time that the odds of missing the flight are small, and even more for overseas flights.  Blackcar is good because I can either work or sleep.

But that said, I'd be all over a frequent train connection to the airport.  Or maybe even a frequent bus.

This is the thing that bugs me about going via the 401 though.  No amount of extra time will ensure you don't miss your flight (and certainly not 2.5 hours).  While it's unlikely we were stuck for over 3 hours when we were stopped on the 401.  I'm not likely to leave 7 hours before my flights (3 hours recommended arrival time at airport before international flights + 1 hour travel time + up to 3 hours delay due to rare serious collision).

The best I usually do is accept that if I got stuck by a collision again, I'd miss a flight, and then leave 4 hours before a flight, and just let traffic eat into the 3 hours early recommendation.

(I'm also unwilling and unable to wake up in time to leave at 4 am...I've tried, so pretty much any other time has risk of traffic)