Vaughan to Billy Bishop Airport

Vaughan to Billy Bishop: the island airport, and when it beats Pearson

Billy Bishop is the airport Vaughan forgets it has. Porter and Air Canada's regional flights leave from a small terminal on the islands with a security line measured in minutes, and the mainland terminal on Eireann Quay is a ten-minute walk to the tunnel or the ferry from the drop-off. For an Ottawa day trip — 8 a.m. out, 6 p.m. back — a Thornhill executive who uses Billy Bishop is home by seven-thirty; the Pearson equivalent, with the terminal walk and the 401, is closer to nine. The chauffeur's job is the mainland leg: Thornhill down Yonge and the Gardiner, or anywhere west of Dufferin down the 400 and the Gardiner to the Bathurst exit.

The drive

From Thornhill and the Yonge corridor: Yonge or Bathurst south to the 401, the 401 to the Allen, the Allen to the Gardiner via Dufferin, or — better in the morning — the 404/DVP to the Gardiner and west to Bathurst. 35 minutes off-peak, 55 in the rush. From the VMC, Concord, Maple and Woodbridge: the 400 south to the 401, the 401 to the 427 or the Allen, the Gardiner east to Bathurst — 40 to 45 off-peak, up to 70 in the morning rush when the 400/401 interchange is stopped. From Kleinburg: the 427 all the way south to the Gardiner and east — 45 minutes, and the smoothest of the Vaughan approaches. The chauffeur's morning decision is whether the DVP or the 427 is moving, and the confirmation's pickup time allows for the worse case.

At the mainland terminal

The drop-off is at the terminal drive on Eireann Quay off Lake Shore Boulevard and Bathurst. Inside, the pedestrian tunnel with elevators and moving walkways takes about six minutes to the island terminal, and the ferry runs continuously as an alternative; either way, allow twenty minutes from the car to the check-in desk. Porter recommends arriving an hour before departure for domestic flights and ninety minutes for US flights, because the security and the walk are short; the chauffeur's plan uses those figures plus the drive and a margin. For arrivals, the chauffeur waits at the mainland terminal's pickup lane and texts the vehicle description; the walk from the island is the passenger's, and the free waiting period covers it comfortably.

When Billy Bishop is the better airport from Vaughan

For Porter's routes — Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, Thunder Bay, Newark, Boston, Chicago Midway, Washington Dulles among them — the total door-to-gate time from Thornhill or the VMC is usually 20 to 40 minutes shorter than Pearson, and the experience is calmer. For a same-day business return it is decisively better. For anything with a connection, a large aircraft, a checked-bag-heavy family or a sun destination, Pearson is the airport. Some Vaughan travellers fly out of Billy Bishop and back into Pearson or the reverse; the engine prices each leg to its airport.

Downtown before or after

Many Billy Bishop bookings are combined with a downtown stop — a meeting on Bay Street after a morning arrival, a dinner on King West before an evening departure. An hourly booking covers the day; two one-way legs cover a simple there-and-back. The downtown route page has the venue lanes.

Which vehicle

An Executive Sedan for one or two with a carry-on; a Premium Sedan for the executive day; a Luxury SUV if there is more luggage than a regional turboprop would normally take. Sprinters and stretches are rarely the right vehicle for Billy Bishop — the terminal drive is small — but a Sprinter for a corporate group of ten flying together to Ottawa is done.

The alternatives

The subway from the VMC to Union and the Porter shuttle from the Fairmont Royal York is a genuine option for a passenger with no luggage and no deadline — ninety minutes, cheap — and we will say so. A taxi is metered through downtown. A rideshare is a quote at 6 a.m. Driving and parking at the mainland lot is expensive and often full. The chauffeur is the fixed-price, fixed-time option and the only one that makes a 7 a.m. Ottawa flight from Kleinburg civilised.

Booking Vaughan to Billy Bishop

Address, flight number and date, passenger count. Say "Billy Bishop" or "YTZ" — the engine knows the mainland terminal address. Accept the fixed fare.

The mainland terminal and the tunnel, in detail

The mainland terminal building sits on Eireann Quay at the foot of Bathurst Street, a short block south of Lake Shore Boulevard and Queens Quay, with a drop-off lane at its door and short-term parking beside it. Inside are the check-in kiosks for Porter and the entrance to the pedestrian tunnel, which descends by elevator to a walkway under the Western Gap with moving sidewalks and rises by elevator into the island terminal — about six minutes door to door, accessible and weather-proof. The ferry, a few steps away at the quay, is the alternative and the original: ninety seconds across the narrowest crossing in the harbour, running continuously, free, and the choice of anyone who wants the view. Either way, the chauffeur's drop-off is the same lane, and the walk from the car to the check-in desk is a few minutes. For an arrival, the reverse: the passenger emerges from the tunnel or the ferry into the mainland terminal, and the chauffeur is at the pickup lane with the vehicle description already texted.

A Billy Bishop day, as it runs

A Thornhill consultant on Porter's 07:00 to Ottawa and the 18:00 back: pickup at 05:50 from a street off Centre, Yonge to the 401 and the DVP to the Gardiner because Bayview is slow at Lawrence, the mainland terminal at 06:25, the tunnel, the gate by 06:40 with a coffee. In Ottawa a sedan through the network for the two meetings. The return lands at 19:05, ten minutes late; the chauffeur was positioned to it, the passenger is at the pickup lane by 19:20, and home in Thornhill by 20:00 — a working day that would have been two hours longer through Pearson. On a corporate account, three lines on the invoice.

Porter's network from Billy Bishop, and who it suits

Porter's island schedule is built for the same-day business trip and the weekend city break: Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City hourly or better; Halifax, Moncton, St. John's and Thunder Bay; Newark for Manhattan, Boston, Chicago Midway, Washington Dulles and a seasonal Florida and Caribbean set among the destinations over the years. Air Canada also flies the island to Montreal. The aircraft are turboprops, the cabins are quiet, the checked-bag allowance is normal but the overhead bins are not Pearson-sized, and the whole experience rewards a passenger travelling light. For that passenger from Vaughan, the island airport is often the better choice; the airport's site has the current schedule.

The Gardiner, the closures and the alternatives

The chauffeur's mainland leg ends on the Gardiner Expressway's Bathurst/Spadina exit or on Lake Shore Boulevard, and both close for the city's big events: the Marathon on a Sunday in October, Pride in June, Caribana on the August long weekend, the Grand Prix at Exhibition Place in June, the CNE's traffic in late August. On those days the chauffeur comes in via Front Street and Bathurst or via Queens Quay from the east, and the confirmation's pickup time already allows for it. Winter storms slow the Gardiner less than the 400; the 427 route from the west of Vaughan is the most reliable approach in snow.

Vehicles and luggage for the island

The Executive Sedan is the Billy Bishop vehicle for nearly every booking — one or two passengers, a carry-on and a small checked bag. The Premium Sedan for the executive. The Luxury SUV when a family flies Porter to Halifax or Florida with real luggage. The Sprinter for a corporate group of ten on one flight, dropped at the lane in one movement. The stretch is not sent to the mainland terminal's small drive except by prior arrangement.

The Toronto Islands, and the airport's neighbourhood

Billy Bishop occupies the western tip of the Toronto Islands, across the Western Gap from the mainland at the foot of Bathurst; the rest of the islands — Hanlan's Point, Centre Island, Ward's — are reached by the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal at the foot of Bay Street, a different ferry a kilometre east. The mainland terminal's neighbourhood is the western waterfront: the Music Garden, Ireland Park, the Harbourfront Centre's western end, and the condominium towers along Queens Quay. A passenger with an hour before a flight has a coffee on Queens Quay; a passenger arriving with an afternoon free has the waterfront walk east to Harbourfront and the ferry to the islands. The downtown route page covers the rest of the city; the airport's site covers the terminal.

Booking it on a corporate account

For the VMC and Thornhill companies whose people fly Porter weekly, the Billy Bishop run is a fixed account fare like the Pearson one, with the traveller's home address and the mainland terminal pre-loaded; the booker sees the week's island runs on one screen, and the Ottawa and Montreal cars through the network sit on the same invoice.

Weather and the island

Fog and lake-effect snow close the island airport more often than Pearson — a few days a year — and a flight cancelled at Billy Bishop is usually rebooked through Pearson. Tell us, and the transfer moves to the other airport and the other time without charge; the Pearson route is thirty minutes from anywhere in Vaughan.

Book Vaughan to Billy Bishop

The details

Lake Shore Boulevard at Bathurst is closed or reduced for the Marathon, the Pride parade, the Grand Prix and Caribana weekend, and the chauffeur routes via Front Street on those days. The Gardiner's ramps at Spadina and York are the other approach when Lake Shore is slow. And the ferry, for anyone who prefers it to the tunnel, is free and takes ninety seconds — the chauffeur's drop-off is the same either way.