help my wife and cats get home

October 7, 2008 12:33 AM

Looking for one way car rental, ride share, or other transport east from Toronto.

On October 26 my wife is flying into Pearson Airport with our two cats. She needs to get from there to Prince Edward County, about three hours east of Toronto. I've been researching car rental agencies and most of them don't seem to allow return of the car to Belleville or Kingston, which would mean her having to drive the car all the way back to Toronto and then take a bus back to P.E.C.
I'm looking for any or all of the following information:
1 - A car rental company that will rent a car at Pearson and allow it to be returned in Belleville (ideally, or else Kingston).
2 - A ride share opportunity where I might find someone driving east on that day who would be able to give her a lift.
3 - Any other means of transport that would allow a relatively tired woman and two fairly stressed out cats to get from point A to point B (note: the terms 'tired', 'woman', 'stressed', and 'cats' rule out hitchhiking, and probably a bus).
If by some intervention of Providence, you, yourself, the person reading this, are a Torontonian who has just been thinking "saaaay, I'm up for a trip to Prince Edward County around about October 26... if only I had some cats to entertain me on my journey...", then by all means get in touch!
Thanks!

posted by crazylegs to travel & transportation (4 comments total)

Via Rail allows pets in carriers in their baggage cars. More Info. If they've been on a plane, they should be ok on the train. She'd have to get from Pearson to Union Station downtown, a taxi or TTC bus should work for that.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 1:27 AM on October 7, 2008

Here's the Ontario Coachway Share Van Service site. Looks like a shared van to Belleville is about $80.

If spending some money isn't an issue, I suspect that you can actually just take an airport limo the whole way. Looks to be between $250 and $300 dollars. You may want to call an airport limo company ahead of time to see how to arrange this, as the guys at the limo stand may not be willing to go all the way to Belleville. Here's one company with out of town rates, and one that I use all the time when I travel back to Toronto.
posted by generichuman at 2:38 AM on October 7, 2008

Opps, also from the Prince Edward County website:

Shuttle service from Pearson International airport to Prince Edward County, return, is also available from a few Picton area taxi services. Phone [phone] for details.
posted by generichuman at 5:03 AM on October 7, 2008

Two other thoughts.

There's a number of websites that help people arrange rides between toronto and the likes of montreal and ottawa. Google "ride share toronto" and you'll get a number of hits.

The other is to rent a one-way pickup or van from the sorts of u-haul or one of the other truck rental companies. It's more expensive than returning to the same location, and you'd need to make sure there's convenient pickup and drop-off locations at both ends, but since going one-way when you're moving isn't uncommon, it may be easier than getting a rental car.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 7:09 AM on October 7, 2008