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Toronto Pearson is Canada’s biggest airport, but with its single rail connection and inconvenient local transit options, it could be so much better. Here’s how I would create a rail station befitting of Pearson’s status.
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Ever wondered why your city’s transit just doesn’t seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!
Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.
20 Comments
If you enjoy this video make sure to share it around! We really need Pearson to start talking about a better transit centre!
but way back about pearson tallking about a transit hub that was supposed to integrate with line 5. Not sure when that will going to happen.
I think the Up locomotive is the same as the ones that SMART operates here in Sonoma County, CA. At least the front in ur thumbnail looks the same.
Good feedback on the airport, but as an aside, I also really like that red hat!
Great Video and Love the Videos that you bring on here with Transit around the world. Toronto should look at Chicago where they have the Blue Line going to O'Hare and the Orange Line going to Midway. They have great transit connections there. It will be great when the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRT go to Pearson and it will be important for them to create a bus transit hub as well like the one at Kipling Station. Also it will be better if the Kitchener GO Line goes there too and they can use this instead of the UP Express or the potential proposed extension of the Ontario Line there. Once all done I wonder what the extra fee will be at the new Pearson Station (not Union Station West). 😂
Seems like a decent plan. Anything that reclaims parking space into more valuable property is worthwhile.
That airport link from union station to airport was a bad-thought-out-idea that tried to copy the Canada line in Vancouver. The Canada line took 4 or 5 decades of endless government studies on the line, the Ontario government didn't even do two years of planning Im assuming.
Last year I flew to Toronto Pearson from Vancouver and ended up waiting an obscene amount of time for our baggage to arrive. After we finally got our baggage after at least 45 minutes – 1 hour of waiting. Then we had to rush as fast as possible to get onto the Union Pearson express to catch a train to Windsor. We nearly missed the Union Pearson because of how long it took us to get from the baggage area to the station. It also wasn't a fast trip and we had to run to catch our train the moment the UP stopped at Union. That was our first experience with the UP, so yeah, not great first impressions. Our trip back to the airport after getting back from Windsor was fine though, if not a bit slow.
I'm glad you mentioned The Jewel at Changi! It's great when airports do awesome things for those who wanna go to the airport just because rather than to actually fly somewhere. JFK International for example has the TWA Hotel which incorporates the TWA Flight Center by Eero Saarinen (who also worked on Dulles and the Gateway Arch) with two buildings added, a rooftop pool offering wonderful views of the different planes taking off and landing, and even a cocktail lounge inside a preserved Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, the last model of the Lockheed Constellation line of airliners. For those who are plane spotters or love aviation history in general, it's heaven. They also fully restored the Solari flipboard inside the Flight Center!
The Jewel's façade was designed by a consortium of architects, led by Moshe Safdie who also designed Marina Bay Sands! The landscape architect was Peter Walker and Partners, who co-designed the National 9/11 Memorial! The Jewel currently houses more than 2,000 trees and palms, and over 10,000 shrubs covering a total area of more than 21K square meters. There are some 120 species, originating from all around the globe! Its majestic indoor waterfall stands at 40 meters high, with recirculating rainwater pumped to the roof to free fall at up to 37,850 liters per minute. And that's not mentioning the things those transiting at Changi can enjoy like a free 24-hour cinema and a butterfly garden!
When I was in Toronto in 2009, the only option was the bus. It was the most comfortable airport bus I have ever seen though. Air condition, leather seats and tinted glass. It had a few stops in the city center. Most rail connections from an airport only have a single stop in the city center. If a train went to Union Station for example, I would have had to switch to a bus or a taxi there. I still prefer trains though, because they do not require interaction with the driver.
Recently I was in Istanbul. They have a shiny new airport, which is planned to be the busiest airport in the world one day. They also have a rail connection. The station is quite large and impressive, but you have to walk a few hundred metres to get there and they have columns preventing you to use a baggage cart on the travelators. The problem is that the columns are so close together that a two wheel bag will not fit through them unless you rotate it by 90 degrees and then drag it through the columns. I am still young and strong, but for elderly people that is not optimal. I wondered why they did not manage to build a station directly under the terminals, as the airport was built from scratch. I think I know the answer. They are afraid of a terrorist attack and therefore built the station far enough from the terminal that a bomb in a train would not cause a closure of the terminal. Those are the times we live in.
You can even find good examples of solid public transit at airports in the US! Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport station on the DC Metro for example, served by the Blue and Yellow Lines, is located across Smith Boulevard from Terminal 2 and its mezzanine is directly connected to Level 2 of the terminal (security checkpoints/gates level) by two pedestrian bridges. The first city in North America to offer direct rapid transit service to its major airport was Cleveland as Airport station on its Red Line opened in November 1968! Even St Louis's Lambert International has stations at Terminal 1 and 2 for its MetroLink system!
That being said, European and Asian airports very much serve as a role model for how to easily connect passengers from the airport to their final destination without needing to worry about how much you'll need to rent a car. Frankfurt Airport for example has stations for both regional services and long-distance trains like ICE high-speed services. Frankfurt Airport long-distance and Limburg Süd station are the only railway stations in Germany that are served exclusively by long-distance trains. Paris's Charles de Gaulle on the other hand has the RER B, CDG Express (starting in 2025), and TGV high-speed services which even includes a stop at Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy for those traveling to Disneyland Paris.
Who bikes to the airport?
Your plan is great makes sense and should be done. Unfortunately, because it does make good sense means no government would ever build it. If it works governments really don't want. This must be built with private money.
I heard that domestic travel within Canada is insanely expensive – is that true? A few fellow Aussies told me, and mentioned mobile phone planes (esp data) is bizarrely expensive.
keep on pushing, someone may actually take note of your suggestions.
Most airports makes there money form parking 🅿️. What they need is ultras emission congestion pricing for reducing cars access and funding for airport transit projects
Two thoughts from a current employee of an Airport Operator. Otherwise great video bud!
1. Eliminate shops, restaurants and stores on the public side of terminals to prevent unnecessary loiter time in your ticketing and pre-screening areas.
Offer a gate pass system so that customers who’ve come to shop and not fly are able to pass through screening to access the secure side.
2. Electric Busses are more of a hassle than they’re worth. We bought two. Up-time for those assets were about 38% with the rest of which being spent charging or undergoing routine mx. Diesel or Biodiesel are still the most effective option for vehicles that are used to run a 24 hour service.
Hey, it's still a lot better than it was a few years ago. Last time I visited Toronto in 2011, the UP Express didn't exist, and the only way to get to my uncle's house in Mississauga without an expensive taxi was him picking me up from the airport!
Pearson's transit connectivity definitely needs to improve. The madness on the road just outside the terminal gates (coupled with the depressing sea of grey on approach) makes you want to turn right around and jump on a random flight out!
The mesh network is the most efficient and has redundancy built in. I wouldn't try to move backbones. Instead, develop hubs close to the airport star hub and ring with aerial connections. Bus nets from bus and train could then also mesh.
I like the hubs you've brought up for bus and plane.