"Toronto's new Terminal 1: Taking the bus to Barbados"

Friday, May 7, 2004

Toronto's new Terminal 1: Taking the bus to Barbados
BY KEN BECKER   
The Canadian Press  


MISSISSAUGA, Ont. (CP) - I'm standing in a jam-packed bus that is stuck
in traffic on a taxiway at Pearson International Airport. 

It's after dark, and a sign is flashing a red message to the driver:
STOP ... STOP ... STOP. 

Time passes - two minutes ... three ... four ... 

Passengers all around are grumbling. I add my voice. "If I wanted to
take a bus, I would have bought a ticket on Greyhound," I say to my
wife, Linda. 

More time passes - five minutes ... six ... seven ... 

We'd just arrived after a five-hour Air Canada flight from Barbados. I
watched from the window of our Boeing 767 as it landed near Terminal 2,
rolled past Terminal 3, taxied past the new Terminal 1 and kept going -
all the way to a satellite terminal called the Infield. 

It was painful to whiz by all those empty gates. I knew none was our
destination, since we departed from the Infield five days earlier. 

On that sleepy Saturday morning, a cab dropped us off at 7 a.m. for an
8:30 flight. We entered the unfamiliar space of the $3.6-billion new
Terminal 1, followed the signs for international flights to an Air
Canada counter, and asked an obviously harried employee which line to
join. 

"Where you going?" he said. 

"Barbados," I said. 

"Varadero?" he said. 

"No, I think that's in Cuba," I said. 

He looked at his cheat-sheet. "Bridgetown?" 

"Yes," I said. 

"Follow me," he said, and escorted us to the front of the line. I didn't
know what the rush was, since the line wasn't long and there was still
90 minutes to departure 

The check-in agent quickly handed us our boarding passes and directed us
on our way. 

"Once you get through security," she said, "take the escalators down,
and that's where you get the bus." 

"The bus?" I asked. 

"Yes," she said. 

"How long does it take?" I said, now beginning to understand why we were
ushered to the front of the line. 

"About 20 minutes," she said. 

"You'd think for $3 billion they could afford a gate for the plane," I
muttered. 

I've taken buses and trams and other shuttles at other airports. But
this experience would be a first. 

This route would criss-cross airport taxiways, with our little bus
competing for green lights with giant jetliners. Understandably - and
thankfully - the planes always have the right of way. 

Our trip to the Infield provided a close-up, bus-eye view of some very
large aircraft. But it was otherwise uneventful and took about 15
minutes. Once there, we walked past a sparkling eatery, duty-free shop
and newsstand to the comfortable boarding area. 

All international flights from Terminal 1 - about 50 a day, with
thousands of passengers - depart and arrive at the Infield. This is
apparently a temporary arrangement for two or three years, until the new
Terminal 1 is completed. 

Then, the two-kilometre bus trips will end and the $60-million Infield
will be turned into a freight facility. 

In the meantime, as was the case on our return from Barbados, there is
the prospect of idling at a stop sign - eight minutes ... nine ... 10 -
watching planes hog the road. 

When we finally arrived at Terminal 1, the payback was a quick exit and
only a few steps to Canada Customs. Since other buses were probably
backed up at the same busy intersection, the queue at customs was
mercifully short. 

I recently phoned the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, which operates
Pearson, to ask about the traffic jams. 

"We're looking at ways of improving the flow," said Steve Shaw,
spokesperson for the GTAA, adding that the goal was a 10-minute bus trip
but the reality was it could be 20 minutes or more. 

Is there any danger when planes and buses packed with people share
taxiways? 

No, Shaw said. "It's all very carefully managed. There are very strong
and very strict controls. It's a very safe operation." 

Facts and figures on the new Infield terminal at Toronto's Pearson
International Airport: 

Cost: $60 million. 

Gates: 11. 

Number of flights: About 50 a day, including all Air Canada's
international flights. Its U.S. flights still use Terminal 2. 

Passengers: An average of more than 12,000 daily. 

Distance from check-in: About two kilometres from the new Terminal 1. 

Shuttle buses: Up to 20 operating at busy times. There is limited
seating. One bus design has a capacity of 65 passengers, the other 30. 

Fate: To be turned into a freight facility when Terminal 1 is completed
in late 2006 or early 2007.


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