Toronto Pearson International Airport to Downtown Toronto & Union Station
The UP Express covers the 22 km from Terminal 1 to Union Station in 25 minutes, every 15 minutes, for CAD 12.35 or CAD 9.25 with PRESTO. A flat-rate taxi is CAD 60-75.
Union Station is the point everything in Toronto radiates from: two subway lines below, every GO train in the region above, and the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and the waterfront within a few minutes' walk of the doors.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Downtown Toronto & Union Station, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from C$75). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from C$3.3) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car โ so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo ยท 1 traveller | C$3.3 | C$75 | Bus |
| Couple ยท 2 travellers | C$6.6 | C$75 | Bus |
| Family of 4 ยท 4 travellers | C$13 | C$75 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority isโฆ | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From C$3.3, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3โ4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Train
CAD 12.35 at the machine, CAD 9.25 if you tap a PRESTO card, free for under-12s. It calls at Weston and Bloor on the way, both useful if you are staying west or midtown rather than at Union itself.
Where to catch it: Station is at Terminal 1 only, signposted from arrivals. Landing at Terminal 3 means riding the free Terminal Link train across first โ 2 to 8 minutes, runs 24 hours.
Best for budget travellers near a stationBus / shuttle
One TTC fare of CAD 3.30 covers the bus to Kipling station and the subway ride onward, because the transfer is inside the system. Budget the full hour-plus; it is the cheapest way in by a wide margin and the slowest of the sensible ones.
Where to catch it: Ground level at both terminals, at the city bus platforms โ look for the TTC signage rather than the coach bays.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
The waybill is the point โ the zone price is fixed before you move, so a jam on the 427 costs you time and not money. A CAD 10 surcharge applies to pickups at the airport. Forty minutes is optimistic on a weekday afternoon.
Where to catch it: Ground transportation level at each terminal; a dispatcher confirms the address and hands you a Flat Rate Passenger Waybill.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
Note the airport's CAD 15 exit fee on pre-arranged pickups โ it applies on top and some quotes bury it. Makes sense for three or four people, where one car lands near four UP Express tickets and finishes at the door.
Where to catch it: Arranged at the terminal you land in, so no Link train with luggage.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
Downtown parking runs CAD 25-45 a day and most older hotels have none of their own. Worth it if Toronto is a base for Niagara or cottage country, hard to justify for a city stay.
Where to catch it: Rental counters in both terminals, cars in the attached garages.
Best for travellers who want to exploreGetting from YYZ to Downtown Toronto & Union Station
First, work out which terminal you are standing in
Pearson's two terminals are separate buildings a shuttle ride apart, and the train downtown leaves from only one of them. The UP Express platform is at Terminal 1. If your flight landed at Terminal 3 โ most of the Air Canada partners and a lot of the transatlantic carriers use it โ you need the Terminal Link train first. It is free, runs twenty-four hours, and takes between two and eight minutes depending on which station you board at.
Nobody tells you this at baggage reclaim, and it is the single most common reason people stand on the wrong side of the airport wondering where the train is.
The UP Express, and the card that makes it cheaper
Once you are at Terminal 1 the journey is straightforward: twenty-five minutes to Union Station, a departure every fifteen minutes, seven days a week. The standard adult fare is CAD 12.35 from the machine. Tap a PRESTO card instead and it drops to CAD 9.25. Children under twelve travel free.
PRESTO is worth a paragraph of its own because it is the region's shared payment card โ it works on the TTC subway and buses, on MiWay in Mississauga, on GO Transit and on the UP Express. If you are in town more than a day, buying one on arrival pays for itself on this first journey alone and then removes the need to think about fares at all.
Two intermediate stops are worth knowing. The train calls at Weston and at Bloor. Bloor is the useful one: it connects to subway Line 2, which is often closer to a midtown or west-end hotel than Union is.
Where Union actually puts you
Union is the hinge of the whole region. Two subway lines run beneath it, every GO train in southern Ontario arrives above it, and the PATH โ the underground walkway network that lets Torontonians get to work in February without a coat โ spreads out from its concourse. The CN Tower, Rogers Centre and the waterfront are a short walk. The financial district starts at the door.
If your hotel is anywhere in the core, this is the right arrival point and the walk is short. If it is north of Bloor, get off the UP Express early rather than riding to Union and doubling back.
The CAD 3.30 option, and what it costs you in time
The TTC's route 900 Airport Express runs from the ground-level city bus platforms to Kipling subway station, and because the transfer to the subway happens inside the system, a single fare of CAD 3.30 carries you all the way downtown. That is roughly a quarter of the UP Express price.
What you pay instead is an hour and often more, on a bus and then a train, with luggage, at whatever hour you happen to land. It is a perfectly reasonable choice travelling light on a budget. It is a poor one with two suitcases and a child.
Taxis, and the waybill system
Toronto's airport authority sets flat rates by zone rather than leaving it to the meter. You go to the ground transportation level, a dispatcher confirms your destination, and you are handed a Flat Rate Passenger Waybill stating the price. Downtown falls in the CAD 60-75 band, and a CAD 10 surcharge applies to pickups at the airport.
The waybill is the genuinely useful part. Traffic on the 427 and the Gardiner can turn a forty-minute drive into seventy, and with a fixed price that costs you time but not money. A booked car sits at CAD 75-110 and carries one extra charge worth checking for: the airport levies a CAD 15 exit fee on pre-arranged pickups, and not every quote includes it.
The car you probably should not hire
Both terminals have rental counters, with the cars waiting in the garages next door, so collection is quick. Downtown is where the argument falls apart. Parking runs CAD 25 to 45 a day, a good number of older hotels have no garage of their own, and the streetcar network makes driving in the core slower than not.
Hire a car at Pearson if Toronto is a base for Niagara, the wine country or cottage country to the north. For a few days in the city itself, the UP Express and a PRESTO card will do everything the car would, for less than one day's parking.