Is there direct public transport from Toronto to the Buffalo airport?
November 9, 2006 11:35 AM   Subscribe

I feel like this should be easy info to find, but I can't find it! I want to take a bus from Toronto to the Buffalo Airport. There are plenty of buses to Buffalo, but I can't seem to find one that has a drop-off at the airport.

I'm trying to save some cash by flying to washington DC from Buffalo rather than from Toronto. But if I have to spend three hours getting to the airport, and if I have to transfer to three different kinds of buses/shuttles to do it, then it's not worth the savings.

So: I already know about shuttles from Niagara Falls to the Buffalo airport, and buses from central buffalo to the airport. I want to know if there is anything that goes from central/downtown/Ttc-able Toronto, direct to the Buffalo airport.
Thanks!
posted by Kololo to Travel & Transportation around Toronto, ON (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I see shuttles all the time near the airport with Ontario plates and names like Airport Shuttle or something like that. I'd check your Yellow Pages equivalent.
posted by sacre_bleu at 12:30 PM on November 9, 2006


As far as I know this cannot be done other than by the two methods you mentioned. (Also, the airfare saving may not be that much depending on your dates of travel.)

Have you looked into rideshares? craigslist seems to have roughly 1 a day to Buffalo.
posted by Urban Hermit at 12:30 PM on November 9, 2006


Here's two options I found that apparently provide direct service from Toronto to Buffalo Airport: Niagara AirBus and Niagara Falls Taxi. I don't think either will save you any money, though (they look expensive).

Taking a bus or a train from Toronto to Buffalo and then taking a cab or local bus to the airport only involves one transfer. The train won't save time - it takes 5 hours last I checked - but you can find Greyhound buses that take 2 1/2 or 3 hours, which isn't bad, and from there take local transport to the airport - downtown Buffalo isn't very far from Buffalo Airport. Here is another link I Googled talking about prices with a coach service (might be cheaper than Greyhound but less choice in times) and has the phone number for a transit service between the Buffalo airport and Buffalo bus terminal.

Rideshares or paying a friend to drive you would be a great idea - cheaper and faster. Although if you can't do that, taking the bus looks to be the cheapest fastest way otherwise. Bus prices are reasonable.
posted by Melinika at 12:37 PM on November 9, 2006


I kinda doubt there's direct TO-Bflo airport bus. The greyhound/whatever station is downtown, so all buses will go thru there.

NFTA does run a shuttle to and from the airport, so you could take a bus from TO to downtown then do the switch to the NFTA bus. Here's their little trip planner thing.

If you get to Buffalo at a reasonable time, I'd be happy to run you out there. I work at the UB campus. Email or im me.
posted by jdfan at 2:02 PM on November 9, 2006


I've done this before. Greyhound service from Toronto to Buffalo departs pretty often and is pretty quick. There are some express runs, even (I think). Go down to the Toronto Coach Terminal (Bay & Dundas) as soon as you can - the prices online are never right, for some reason, Greyhound is bad at the online thing. The sooner you can buy your ticket in advance, the better.

NFTA (Niagara Falls Transit Authority), like jdfan mentioned, has a bus that goes to the airport. The main bus terminal in Buffalo, where the Greyhound drops you, has a ton of NFTA buses going past it. I forget which bus I took, but I guess that trip planner will help you out. You could also just ask someone at the bus station, or a driver of an NFTA bus.

The bus from downtown Buffalo to the airport felt like it took almost as long as the Toronto-Buffalo bus, though. It's way out there, and you go through some pretty sketchy areas. You'll probably want to get to downtown Buffalo about 3 hours before your flight leaves. BUF is a small airport, so you should be able to get through checkin and security quickly, but you never know, and that should give you enough time for that and whatever transit hiccups there may be.

I've gone through the border at Buffalo, on a bus, more times than I care to remember, and they basically hate everyone, so make sure you have all of your ID straight and you're nice and straightforward and polite so they don't have an excuse to give you a hard time. Going through customs on a bus is the least enjoyable way to do it and the most prone to weird hassles, I've found.
posted by blacklite at 3:28 PM on November 9, 2006


Best answer: OP: I already know about shuttles from Niagara Falls to the Buffalo airport, and buses from central buffalo to the airport.

I don't think people are answering the actual question here (because there is no cheap, direct way to do what the poster is asking).

But I have found this to be true, and worth emphasizing:

Going through customs on a bus is the least enjoyable way to do it and the most prone to weird hassles...
posted by Urban Hermit at 3:38 PM on November 9, 2006


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