Billy Bishop airport car service: the island airport, ten minutes from King West

The airport on the island

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport sits on the Toronto Islands, a hundred and twenty metres from the mainland at the foot of Bathurst Street, and it is the airport for Porter Airlines' network - Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Halifax, New York Newark, Boston, Chicago, Washington and more - and Air Canada's Montreal and Ottawa shuttle. For a traveller in the Financial District, King West, Liberty Village or the waterfront it is ten minutes away, and a Porter flight from Billy Bishop at 7 am beats any Pearson departure for a Montreal meeting at 10. The airport is reached by a pedestrian tunnel under the channel or a ninety-second ferry, from the mainland terminal at Eireann Quay - and that is where the car goes.

A Billy Bishop car service is a flat-fare transfer between any Toronto or GTA address and the mainland terminal, priced by address and class before the car moves, with the flight tracked on arrivals and the pickup timed to the ferry or the tunnel. It is a shorter, simpler ride than Pearson, and the page exists because the timing is different and because most Billy Bishop arrivals become hourly days downtown.

The mainland terminal, the tunnel and the ferry

The car drops and collects at the mainland terminal on Eireann Quay, south of Queens Quay at Bathurst, where there is a lay-by for pre-arranged vehicles. From there the pedestrian tunnel - moving walkways and elevators, about six minutes door to door - or the ferry, which runs every fifteen minutes and takes ninety seconds plus the wait, takes you to the terminal on the island. Porter's free shuttle from Union Station also stops at the mainland terminal, which is why the lay-by is busy at 6:30 am; the chauffeur knows where to wait. On arrival, the chauffeur watches the flight, allows for the tunnel or the ferry, and is at the lay-by with the plate texted when you emerge.

Timing a departure

Porter's check-in closes thirty minutes before a domestic departure and forty-five before a US one, and the tunnel or ferry adds ten minutes: from King West, a 7:00 am flight means a 5:55 pickup; from Yorkville, 5:45; from Mississauga or Markham, 5:15. The airport's security line is short compared with Pearson's but not nothing at 6:30 am. The desk suggests the pickup time when the flight number is entered; the Billy Bishop airport site and Porter publish the cut-offs and the ferry schedule.

Arrivals, and the hourly day that follows

A Porter arrival from Montreal at 9:05 is on the mainland by 9:20 and at a Bay Street meeting by 9:35. That is why a Billy Bishop arrival is so often the start of an hourly day: the visiting executive collected at the lay-by and kept on the clock through the as-directed day and back to the airport at 5; the New York client met with a name board at the mainland terminal and taken on the half-day of meetings. Book the arrival as a flat-fare Route and the day By the hour on the same account; the hourly pillar explains the block.

Billy Bishop versus Pearson, for the same trip

For Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Halifax, Newark, Boston, Chicago and Washington from downtown, Billy Bishop is usually the better airport: ten minutes to the terminal against forty, a short security line, and a walk to the gate measured in metres. For everywhere else, and for a traveller starting in the 905, Pearson. For a connection - landing at Pearson from London and flying Porter to Montreal from Billy Bishop - one booking with both flight numbers, timed to the first arrival and the second check-in, and a drive across the city that is thirty-five minutes off-peak and an hour at 5 pm. The Pearson page has the other airport's detail.

The right car

Almost every Billy Bishop transfer is an Executive Sedan: Porter travellers carry a bag and a laptop, and the lay-by is a sedan's lay-by. The Mercedes S-Class for a principal or a client. The Luxury SUV for a family or a group of four to six with luggage. The Executive Sprinter for a delegation or a team arriving together - Porter's Montreal and Ottawa flights carry a lot of them. The fleet page has capacities.

What the fare includes

The chauffeur, the vehicle, fuel, flight tracking, the waiting allowance per our terms, help with luggage, the plate text. HST and gratuity are shown separately at booking. No tolls on any route to the waterfront. Meet-and-greet at the mainland terminal with a name board is an add-on. The rates page explains what moves the number.

From Billy Bishop to the GTA

Flat fares from the mainland terminal to downtown, Yorkville, North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough, Mississauga, Vaughan, Markham, Oakville and every other area; the waterfront's roads - Lake Shore, Queens Quay, the Gardiner ramps at Spadina and Jarvis - are the whole of the local knowledge, and the Gardiner's closures for the marathon, the Indy and the Caribbean Carnival are the days the chauffeur takes Lake Shore.

Corporate Billy Bishop

For a Toronto company with Montreal and Ottawa offices, Billy Bishop is the commute: the 7 am out and the 6 pm back, twice a week, for a dozen people, on account with the fares on file and the flights on the profiles. The corporate accounts page explains the account; the executive car service page the service. The dispatcher watches Porter's evening arrivals for the fog delays that the island airport is known for and re-times the cars.

The waterfront around the airport

The mainland terminal is a short walk from the Harbourfront Centre, the Music Garden, the Rogers Centre and the CN Tower, and ten minutes by car from the Convention Centre, the Financial District's hotels, King West and Liberty Village. A visitor arriving on Porter for a sightseeing day is at the St. Lawrence Market in fifteen minutes; a delegate for a conference at the Convention Centre is in the lobby in ten.

Billy Bishop, in a table

Booking a Billy Bishop transfer

Choose Route, the class, the address and "Billy Bishop mainland terminal", the date, the time and the flight number; confirm the fare. For a 7 am Porter, book the evening before. The plate is texted before the pickup and, on arrivals, before the aircraft lands. Or call the desk, any hour.

The Porter commuter's week

A Toronto consultant who is in Montreal on Tuesdays and Ottawa on Thursdays lives on the 6:45 am and the 6:30 pm from Billy Bishop, and books the car as a standing pair of transfers on account: 5:40 am from Leslieville to the mainland terminal, and the evening pickup timed to the flight the dispatcher watches for fog. Two transfers a day, two days a week, on the monthly invoice with the client code on each line. The personal chauffeur page covers the standing arrangement and the corporate accounts page the invoice.

Billy Bishop and the tunnel, for first-time visitors

The tunnel is the surprise for a visitor: the terminal on the island is reached on foot through a passage under the channel, with elevators at each end and moving walkways between, and it is quicker than the ferry at every hour. The chauffeur meeting an arrival tells the visitor by text which exit to use and is at the lay-by when the elevator doors open. The sightseeing page picks up the visitor from there.

The airport's noise rules and hours

Billy Bishop operates under a tripartite agreement with the City and the federal government that restricts jet operations and sets a curfew - roughly 6:45 am to 11 pm for scheduled flights - which is why the first Porter departures cluster at 6:45 and 7 and the last arrivals land before 11 pm. A car booked for the last flight is booked for 10:45 pm; a car for the first is booked for 5:45 am. The City of Toronto's waterfront pages carry the agreement's terms.

The other way to the island: the ferry, for the record

The ferry runs from the mainland terminal every fifteen minutes, on the quarter hour, and the crossing is ninety seconds; it carries vehicles for airport operations but not for passengers' cars, which is why no car service drives onto the island and every pickup and drop-off is at the mainland side. In high wind the ferry pauses and the tunnel carries on; on the rare day the tunnel is closed for maintenance the ferry runs more often. Either way the mainland terminal lay-by is the pickup, and the chauffeur is there with the plate texted and the bags handled, whichever way the passenger came across the channel.

From our network: LAI - Billy Bishop (YTZ) operators · LimousineWorldwide.Directory - airport limousines in Canada · HWD article - hotel to airport transfers · LWD article - airport meet-and-greet · BookingWorldwide.net - Toronto hotels, flights and activities.