shortest ferry rides (121 meters). The ferry service is free to pedestrians and $11 for a car (round trip); there’s a ferry every 15 minutes.
Billy Bishop services about 2.3 million passengers a year with air connections to 18 cities in Canada and the U.S.A. It’s Canada’s 9th busiest airport. The island’s relatively short runways limit the size of planes that can land here, also evidenced by the shorter hangers several of you observed in our puzzle photo. There’s talk of adding land to the island and making the runways longer so larger planes can land, but who knows if that will ever happen.
The ferry service will largely be replaced next year by a pedestrian tunnel, whose opening is scheduled for 2015. The tunnel is being built under Lake Ontario, linking the Island airport with the mainland for those willing to walk the 125 meters. Ferry traffic likely will continue and for those who want one of Toronto’s most memorable skyline views, I’d opt for the ferry service instead.
Thank you very much for the informative post. I have only been to Toronto once. I went up the CN Tower and took this picture of the Billy Bishop Airport.
That’s a great and very orienting photo, Roderick! Thanks for sharing it.
In case you were curious, the pedestrian tunnel between Toronto and the island airport has been completed and is now open. It eliminates the waits for the ferry services for passengers who want to get to their departure gates.
More on that story from Frequent Business Traveler at this link.