Long-distance black car vs flying within Ontario and Quebec: the real time math

The long-distance arithmetic, in one paragraph

Every travel manager and every executive assistant does this arithmetic wrong the first time — the flight's time is the flight time and the car's time is the drive, so the flight wins — and right the second time, after the December morning when the 7 a.m. to Ottawa cancelled and the 9 a.m. meeting was missed: the flight's time is the door-to-door, the cost is the all-in for everyone travelling, the hours are working hours or queue hours, and the answer depends on the route, the month and the headcount. This guide sets out the method, the flight's real time and cost, the car's, the working-time value, the routes worked one by one with the break-even count, the winter's premium, the train, the bags and the dog, the hybrid shapes, the corporate policy's line, and the honest recommendation.

The method

Two columns for each route: the time, door to door — the flight's chain (the car to the airport, the check-in and the security, the gate wait, the flight, the deplaning and the walk, the car from the airport to the destination) against the car's (the drive, the stops); the cost, all in for the party — the fares (by cabin and by booking window: the walk-up business fare for the executive's Tuesday against the two-week-ahead economy for the planned trip), the airport cars at each end (two per person or per party — the Pearson run and the destination city's), the parking if the passenger drives to the airport, the baggage fees, against the fleet's flat one-way rate (the engine shows each route — the chauffeur's return built in) which is the same for one passenger or four; then the delay probability (the airport's and the month's — Transport Canada's and the airports' on-time statistics; Pearson's December on-time performance is the country's worst), the working time (the hours the passenger can work — the back seat's all of them against the airport's ninety minutes at the gate and in the air), and the bags (the luggage capacity article's count against the airline's fees and the overhead bins). The how much does a black car cost article has the fleet's rate structure and the corporate account billing article the statement's one line.

The flight's real time

The chain for a Toronto executive to a downtown Ottawa or Montreal meeting: the car from the office or the home to Pearson (30 to 60 minutes — the rush hour article's morning) or to Billy Bishop (15 to 30 from the core — the Pearson vs Billy Bishop article); the check-in and the security (60 to 90 at Pearson's domestic terminal in the morning peak — the Pearson holiday travel peaks article's worst; 30 at Billy Bishop); the gate wait (30 — the boarding starts thirty minutes before); the flight (Ottawa 55 to 70 minutes; Montreal 70 to 80; London 50; Windsor 65; Sudbury 75; North Bay 60; Thunder Bay 105); the deplaning and the walk (15 at Ottawa and Montreal's small terminals; 20 at Trudeau's far gates); the car from the airport (Ottawa's YOW to the Hill 25 minutes; Trudeau to downtown Montreal 25 to 45; London's YXU to Western 20; Windsor's YQG to Caesars 15; Sudbury's YSB to downtown 25); the total: Ottawa four hours (Pearson) or three and a quarter (Billy Bishop), Montreal four and a half or three and three-quarters, London three and a half, Windsor three and three-quarters, Sudbury four, North Bay three and a half, Thunder Bay five and a half — on a day when nothing is late; and the delay: a cancelled flight or a two-hour weather hold adds the same to every route, and the winter's probability of one (the Pearson winter storm article) is the arithmetic's hidden column.

The car's real time

The drive plus the stops, door to door, with the chauffeur's defensive driving article pace and the Ontario 511 check: Ottawa four and a half hours (Ottawa article); Montreal six (Montreal article); Kingston two and a half (Kingston article); London two (London article); Kitchener-Waterloo an hour and a quarter (Kitchener-Waterloo article); Windsor four (Windsor article); Sudbury four and a half (the 400 and the 69/400 north — 390 kilometres); North Bay four (the 400 and the 11 — 350 kilometres); Thunder Bay fifteen (1,400 kilometres — the flight's route); Buffalo two plus the border (Buffalo article); Detroit four and a half plus the border; New York eight and a half plus the border (New York article). The car's delay probability is the winter driving article's — a closed 401 at Kingston or London a few days a winter, with the Highway 7 and the Highway 2 alternatives — and it is lower than the airports' in the same months because the fleet runs on the days the flights do not.

The cost side

The flight for two executives on a Tuesday: two walk-up or flexible fares (Toronto–Ottawa or Montreal business or flex economy on Air Canada or Porter — the range moves; the airlines' sites have the day's), the car to Pearson and the car from YOW or YUL (two Pearson-class runs at each end — four cars), the baggage fee if the bags are checked; the return doubles it. The car for the same two: the fleet's flat one-way Ottawa or Montreal rate (the engine — the chauffeur's return built in), the ONroute stops, the 407 if used, the gratuity; the return the same, or the multi-day hire's overnight. The arithmetic the Ottawa article and the Montreal article state: for one passenger the flight is cheaper; for two it is close; for three or four the car is cheaper — because the flat rate does not move and the fares and the airport cars multiply; and the working time, the bags and the winter tip the close cases.

The working-time value

The S-Class's back seat is an office — the Wi-Fi, the silence, the tablet, the calls, the privacy and discretion article's chauffeur who hears nothing — for every hour of the drive; the airport's chain is an office for the ninety minutes at the gate and in the air (and not in the security line, the boarding queue, the taxi rank or the shuttle). A partner billing at a law firm's rate for the four and a half hours to Ottawa has paid for the car twice over in the back seat; a team of four rehearsing the pitch on the Sprinter's screen (roadshow article) arrives ready; the executive who sleeps from Belleville to Brockville arrives rested; and the corporate car service page's travel manager counts the hours in the policy.

The routes, worked

Ottawa: the flight four hours door to door (three and a quarter from Billy Bishop), the car four and a half; the cost close at two and the car ahead at three; the Ottawa article's 4 a.m. departure for the 9 a.m. Hill; the car for two or more, the Billy Bishop flight for one on a clear day. Montreal: the flight four and a half (three and three-quarters from Billy Bishop), the car six; the cost close at two and the car ahead at three; the Montreal article's evening-before departure; the car for two or more who value the six hours, the flight for one or for two in a hurry, the train for the solo traveller with time. Kingston: no flight; the car two and a half or VIA's two and a half plus the legs; the car for two or more, the train for one. London: a small flight (Air Canada's regional — three and a half door to door), the car two, VIA two and a quarter; the car or the train; the flight almost never. Kitchener-Waterloo: no flight; the car seventy-five minutes, the GO two hours; the car for the day's schedule, the GO for the commuter. Windsor: the flight three and three-quarters, the car four, VIA four; the flight for one, the car for two or more or for Detroit. Sudbury and North Bay: the flight four and three and a half, the car four and a half and four; the flight — the distances favour it, the fares are reasonable, and the car is for the passenger who cannot fly or the family with the cottage load. Thunder Bay: the flight five and a half, the car fifteen; the flight, always. Buffalo and Detroit: no useful flight to Buffalo; the car two hours plus the border for the Bills, the outlets and BUF's fares; Detroit's flight three and a half against the car's four and a half plus the border — the car for Buffalo; Detroit by the reason. New York: the flight three and a half door to door (from Billy Bishop to Newark), the car eight and a half — the flight on the clock, the car for the reason (the passenger who will not fly, the dog, the six with gear, the closed airport).

The break-even passenger count

The count at which the car's flat rate equals the party's fares plus the airport cars, and the working time and the bags tip it: Ottawa — two on a walk-up Tuesday, three on a planned economy fare; Montreal — two to three; London — one (the car or the train beat the flight at any count); Kingston and Kitchener-Waterloo — one (no flight); Windsor — two to three; Sudbury and North Bay — four or more (and the flight still wins on the clock); Thunder Bay — never; Buffalo — one (the reason is BUF's fares or the Bills); Detroit — three; New York — six with gear, or the reason. The Sprinter's eight seats at the flat rate is where every corridor route flips decisively.

The winter's premium

December to February, the flight's delay column becomes the decision: Pearson's on-time performance falls to the country's lowest in the holiday peak (the Pearson holiday travel peaks article), Trudeau's and Ottawa's snow and freezing rain cancel the corridor flights a dozen mornings a winter, the de-icing queue adds forty minutes to a "departed on time" flight, and the Pearson winter storm article's morning — every flight to Ottawa and Montreal cancelled, the 401 open — is the one the travel manager remembers; the car's own winter risk (the winter driving article's closed 401 at Kingston or London) is real and rarer, the Highway 7 alternative exists, and the fleet leaves earlier; in winter the break-even drops by one passenger on every corridor route.

The train

VIA Rail's Quebec City–Windsor corridor — Toronto–Ottawa (four hours and ten minutes to four and a half; four to six trains a day), Toronto–Montreal (five to five and a half; six to eight), Toronto–Kingston (two and a half), Toronto–London (two and a quarter), Toronto–Windsor (four) — with business class's meal, Wi-Fi and lounge, Union Station's black car pickup at the Toronto end and the taxi or the affiliate at the other, a punctuality record that has improved and still slips behind CN's freight east of Brockville, and a fare below the car's for one and close for two in business; the train is the solo traveller's answer on every corridor route and the car is the party's, the bags', the schedule's and the winter's; the Union Station guide covers the connection and the Kingston article the stop.

The bags, the dog and the instrument

The airline's overhead bin and its checked-bag fee against the luggage capacity article's Escalade with eight large bags; the child seats article's family who would carry two car seats through two airports; the dog on the seat cover who would otherwise fly in the hold or not at all; the cello that buys an airline seat and rides a car's back seat free; the film and TV article's Pelican cases in excess baggage; the accessible service article's passenger for whom the airport's chain is the trip's hardest part — every one of these decides for the car before the arithmetic starts.

The hybrid shapes

One way by car, one way by air: the car to Ottawa at 4 a.m. for the 9 a.m. meeting (the flight could not be trusted) and the 6 p.m. flight home (the meeting's end is fixed) with the Pearson pickup — the one-way rate with the chauffeur's return built in. The car out and the train back, or the reverse. The multi-day: the multi-day hire article's chauffeur who stays for the two-day programme, or the network's affiliate for the in-city runs. The triangle: Toronto–Ottawa–Montreal over three days by car and the flight home from Trudeau. Dispatch builds the shape from the meeting's times and the engine quotes each leg.

The corporate policy's line item

The duty of care article's travel policy has a line for it — "ground transportation for intercity trips under X hours is approved where the door-to-door time or the all-in cost for the party is equal to or better than air, or where the traveller's working time, baggage, accessibility or weather risk justify it" — and the corporate account billing article's statement shows the trip as one line where the flight would be four (two fares, two airport cars) or eight for two; the executive assistants' guide says the assistant runs the arithmetic once per route and writes it into the profile.

The honest recommendation

For one passenger with a carry-on on a clear day: the flight from Billy Bishop to Ottawa or Montreal, the train to Kingston or London, the car to Kitchener-Waterloo — the trade does not compete for the solo seat on the clock and says so. For two: the car to Ottawa, London, Kingston and Kitchener-Waterloo; the car or the flight to Montreal and Windsor by the hurry; the flight to the north. For three or more: the car on every corridor route — the flat rate, the working time, the bags and the door. In winter: drop the count by one. With bags, a dog, a cello, a child seat or a wheelchair: the car. To the north (Sudbury, North Bay, Thunder Bay): the flight, and the car for the passenger who cannot fly. Across the border: Buffalo by car for the reason; Detroit and New York by the reason. For the day the airport is closed: the car is running.

Long-distance vs flying quick reference

Booking the right one

The engine shows every route's flat one-way and round-trip rate; the corporate car service page's account writes the arithmetic into the profile; the multi-day hire article and the network build the hybrid shapes; and dispatch will tell a solo passenger on a clear day to take Porter. Count the party, check the month, and book the door.

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