TORONTO – The TTC’s express bus to the airport — dubbed the “Airport Rocket” — has been taken off-course, leaving passengers fuming about longer rides.
Drivers on route 192, which runs between Kipling Station and Toronto Pearson International Airport, are taking a series of side roads instead of zooming along highways 427 and 27.
Danny Nicholson, TTC’s supervisor of corporate communications, says the TTC wanted to minimize use of busy Highway 427. “The buses had to make a whole bunch of lane changes in a short period of time, sometimes in heavy traffic,” he explains. “It was determined it would be safer to develop a new route to the airport.”
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The TTC website on Tuesday continues to show the former “express” route and passengers surveyed at Kipling Station say they don’t recall seeing any notices about the change. Regular 192 riders claim different drivers use different routes to get to the airport, meaning passengers never know how long it will take to reach their destination.
Some drivers admit they use the highway if the bus is not crowded with standing passengers and luggage in the aisles. (Nicholson says all drivers should be using the same route.) Drivers say they have long complained about the safety of the Airport Rocket because the buses are not equipped with luggage racks.
Nicholson says the TTC’s fleet of buses is not “route-specific” and there are no plans to use buses outfitted with racks on the 192 route.
Bob Kinnear, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents TTC drivers, declined repeated requests for an interview and his communications coordinator Bill Reno said no one else is authorized to speak on behalf of the union.
Montreal transit service STM runs the 747, an express route between Trudeau airport and the city’s downtown core. The buses, equipped with luggage racks, use Highway 520. In Miami, the Airport Flyer express route, serviced by buses with luggage racks, use a busy expressway.
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