Canada

Getting Around

Being the 2nd largest landmass in the world, personal logistics travelling within the country can very from very easy to tricky. Prepare to rent a car if your destination is not covered.

Air

Aviation is dominated by 2 major carriers: Air Canada and WestJet. Followed by the growing national airline, Porter. However, airfares are expensive due to steep government-mandated fees, lack of industry competition, and vast geography with low population density in-between. Smaller, regional airlines make up the rest of flight operations covering remote areas to larger metropolitan cities. If you want to save, make sure to book your flight well in advance.

Canadian Airlines breakdown

National:

• Air Canada
• WestJet
• Porter Airlines

Budget & Leisure:

• Flair Airlines
• Air Transat
• Sunwing

Rail

Canada’s national rail transportation agency is known as VIA Rail. While known for the epic Canadian (spanning over 4,000km) and the coastal Ocean to outsiders looking for an adventure. VIA is best known for daily, intercity services along the Québec-Windsor Corridor (calling at Toronto, Ottawa, and Montréal). Outside of this eastern metropolitan corridor, VIA Rail is limited to mandated, remote services connecting communities with limited (or no road) access to the outside world. A far cry from VIA Rail’s heyday (pre-1990) when their trains were a daily sight to small town residents.

For western cities such as Vancouver, daily trains connect to Seattle via Amtrak. For the Albertan cities of Edmonton and Calgary, there is no daily train service between these twin cities. Enough though the population is well over a million.

Bus

Since the shutdown of Greyhound Canada in 2021, there is no national bus carrier. However, in Greyhound’s wake, multiple regional carriers serve the country. While major cities are served by one, central intercity bus terminal – many are not. You might have to transfer across downtown to catch a bus

Canadian Intercity Bus breakdown (from west to east)

• Ebus
• Rider Express
• Flixbus
• Ontario Northland
• Orléans Express
• Maritime Bus

Water

Ferry services connect the mainland to larger islands home on either coats of Canada as well as the Great Lakes. Predominantly for vehicles, these ferries also accommodate walk on passengers

• BC Ferries
• Owen Sound Transportation Company
• Maritime Atlantic

Drive

Canada is a vast country with long distance between destinations. While the metropolitan centres (Toronto, Montréal, and Ottawa) of the east are connected within the Québec City-Windsor Corridor. Fewer transport options are available for the rest of the country. Therefore, driving is the best option. Rent a car before arriving.