Toronto Pearson International Airport to Mississauga & Square One
The closest major destination to the airport. MiWay route 7 runs there for CAD 3.50 with PRESTO or CAD 4.50 cash, and a flat-rate taxi is CAD 35-50 for a twenty-minute drive.
Pearson is physically in Mississauga, not Toronto, which surprises people who assume the airport belongs to the city whose name is on the flight. Square One and the cluster of towers around it are fourteen kilometres down the road.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Mississauga & Square One, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from C$50). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from C$3.5) 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$3.5 | C$50 | Bus |
| Couple ยท 2 travellers | C$7 | C$50 | Bus |
| Family of 4 ยท 4 travellers | C$14 | C$50 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority isโฆ | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From C$3.5, 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
Bus / shuttle
CAD 3.50 tapping PRESTO, CAD 4.50 in exact cash โ drivers carry no change. The first departure is around three in the morning, which covers most early shifts and red-eye arrivals. Ends at the City Centre transit terminal beside Square One.
Where to catch it: City bus platforms at ground level in both terminals; MiWay stands are signposted separately from the TTC ones.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Short enough that the zone rate stays modest, and the CAD 10 airport surcharge is a bigger share of the total than it is downtown. Twenty minutes unless the 401 is having a bad afternoon.
Where to catch it: Ground transportation level; the dispatcher checks the address and issues a fixed-price waybill.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
Mississauga is a place of business parks and low-rise offices with addresses that mean nothing to a stranger. A car with the address typed in beforehand solves a problem the bus does not.
Where to catch it: Met at the terminal you arrive in.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
Mississauga is built around the car and parking is free almost everywhere, Square One included. If your week involves more than one suburban address, this is the option that actually fits the geography.
Where to catch it: Terminal counters, garage pickup.
Best for travellers who want to exploreGetting from YYZ to Mississauga & Square One
The airport is already here
Toronto Pearson has Toronto in its name and a Mississauga postcode. The runways, the terminals and the whole airport estate sit inside the city of Mississauga, which is Canada's seventh-largest on its own account and would be a major city anywhere else. Square One and the ring of towers around it are fourteen kilometres down the road โ closer than anything else on this page, and closer than most people assume when they book a hotel "near the airport".
MiWay route 7, and the exact-change problem
Mississauga runs its own transit system, separate from the TTC, and route 7 is the one that links the airport to the City Centre terminal beside Square One. The fare is CAD 3.50 if you tap a PRESTO card and CAD 4.50 in cash โ and cash means exact coins, because drivers carry no change and will not make any.
The first bus of the day leaves around three in the morning, which is unusual and genuinely useful. Red-eye arrivals from Europe land in that window, and a CAD 3.50 bus beats a CAD 40 cab when the alternative is sitting in arrivals until the world wakes up.
Board at the city bus platforms on the ground level of either terminal. MiWay stands are signposted separately from the TTC ones, and the two systems look similar enough at a glance to get wrong.
The taxi maths on a short hop
Airport taxis work to fixed zone rates set by the airport authority: a dispatcher checks the address, then hands over a waybill with the price on it. Mississauga falls in a near zone at CAD 35 to 50 for a drive of about twenty minutes.
Worth noticing is how the CAD 10 airport pickup surcharge lands on a journey this short. Downtown it is a seventh of the fare; here it is closer to a quarter. The trip is cheap in absolute terms and poor value per kilometre, which is the usual shape of very short airport runs.
Twenty minutes assumes the 401 is behaving. It frequently is not โ the stretch past the airport is among the busiest highway sections on the continent, and a bad afternoon turns the drive into forty minutes. The fixed price at least means the delay costs you nothing but time.
Why booked cars do well out here
Pre-arranged transfers run CAD 50 to 80, more than the taxi, and the reason people still choose them is addresses. Mississauga is a city of business parks, low-rise office campuses and identical arterial roads named after the farms they replaced. "Unit 400, 2680 Skymark Avenue" means nothing to a driver who has not looked it up, and finding it from the road involves several laps.
A car booked with the address typed in beforehand solves a problem the bus does not even attempt. For business arrivals, which are most of the traffic to this part of the region, that is usually the deciding factor rather than comfort.
The one destination where hiring makes obvious sense
Mississauga was built around the car and it shows. Parking is free at Square One, free at almost every office park, free at the hotels and free at the retail strips. There is no congestion charge, no residents' permit scheme and no shortage of spaces.
Rates open around CAD 45 a day and, unusually for a big airport, there is no shuttle to a remote lot โ the garages are attached to the terminals. If your week involves more than one suburban address โ a client in Meadowvale, a hotel near the airport, dinner in Port Credit โ the car will cost less than the taxis and take a fraction of the time the buses would.
Short version
Travelling light and not in a hurry, take route 7 and tap PRESTO. Arriving for business at an address rather than a landmark, book a car. Staying several days and moving around the region, hire one at the terminal. And if you land at three in the morning, the bus is already running.