I recently read an article in Canada’s Globe and Mail that made me smile.
The article, entitled Air-rail link to boost travel – and ‘wow’ factor, discusses how my hometown of Toronto “has been waiting for decades for a direct link between the airport and downtown” and how “at last . . . it’s finally taking shape.”
As anyone in Toronto will tell you, Pearson International Airport is woefully unconnected to the Greater Toronto Area by transit, and the Air-rail link won’t do much to change that. Consider the current situation:
- The Toronto Transit Commission runs two bus routes to the airport. One is circuitous and basically useless (the 58A Malton) and the other is somewhat useful. The TTC also runs two late night buses to the airport.
- Regional Provider GO Transit runs two infrequent bus routes to the airport.
- Suburban provider Mississauga Transit runs one infrequent bus route to the airport.
With that one additional transit line, the Greater Toronto Area will have a total of six public transport connections to Canada’s busiest airport. The Globe and Mail estimates that users of that that additional transit line can expect to pay $15 to $35 to use it.
Now let’s compare that to Zurich Klotten Airport:
- Zurich S-Bahn runs two separate trains from the airport to downtown Zurich.
- A tram services the airport along two separate lines.
- The Zurich bus network runs 13 different bus lines to the Airport’s own bus terminal.
In other words, Zurich Klotten Airport has 17 different public transit connections compared to Toronto’s current five.
And just to put that into perspective: Zurich proper is roughly 350,000 people. The greater Zurich area is 1.5 – 2.0 million people. Toronto proper is around 2.5 million people and the Greater Toronto Area is well in excess of 5 million.
To further reinforce the point, if you were to include the greater Zurich area – which you should – then you’d also have to include the myriad of regional bus routes and commuter rail lines that also service the airport. At which point the number of transit connections servicing the airport would be mind-bogglingly large.
Toronto would still have only five.
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade here.
It’s important for Torontonians to celebrate our accomplishments, but it’s also important for us to recognize we’ve got a whole lot of catching-up to do.