Does anyone have any idea why the police close the entrance to Gardiner westbound after matches? It is always empty on the highway and the Lakeshore gets jammed (and people then get in Gardiner from Lakeshore). It is infuriating and - unless I am missing something - unecessary. peace EF
last season it was absolutely brutal trying to get onto the Gardiner there... and the expressway is never ever ever dead, it's always busy. couple that with the short time you have to acellerate into the traffic stream, IMHO it's an accident waiting to happen, said so myself every game last year. plus you have all those idiot drivers trying to squeeze ahead of everyone into the gardiner ramp lane from two rows over.
I'm pretty sure there was construction. On my way down on Saturday I saw the traffic and already knew to avoid the Gardiner for the drive home. I took the Queensway all the way to the 427 instead.
And to think, the Gardiner was one of those roads that would've been seriously upgraded (with Federal money no less) if Toronto had've gotten this summer's Olympics. If that had've happened, the stadium that would've been built would be probably occupied by the Argos and BMO would be under no pointy-ball threat.
it was closed when there was no construction though. the on ramp onto the gardiner just west of the stadium is what we are referring to... there has been no construction there and every time I've left BMO field this year it's been closed off with a cruiser sitting there
The same reason they close the onramp between 3 and 6 PM weekdays. Too much traffic flowing through that exit, instead they merge it in at the lakeshore a few KM west of there where the volume can be handled. I would recommend to anyone from out of town park at a subway station. Stations with good parking are Kipling, Keele, Yorkdale, Wilson, which covers the Bloor and Spadina lines. I'm sure there are good stations on the Danforth and Yonge lines, but I'm not familiar with them.
as a second to that, Kipling is the farthest away, and it takes roughly an hour on the subway to get to BMO field I believe, havent done it in a while though
If you are further out west than Mississauga, or in the south end (west side), then it's even better to grab the Go Train. Not that much more expensive, and you might have to wait a couple trains on the way back, but it takes all of 20 minutes and no street cars/busses to get from Oakville to BMO. Just gotta make sure you catch a train that actually stops at BMO .
I would expect in the area of 40 - 60 minutes, I would recommend taking the King streetcar from Dundas West there and the Dufferin bus back as King street is affected by the post game traffic. Only the Lakshore line stops at the Exhibition - any of the other lines will take you to Union station, unless you take the Georgetown line which has a stop at Dundas West, and can take the streetcar from there.
Right, but the 15-20 minute drive down Trafalgar to the Oakville station (Lakeshore line) is much more preferable to the 25-30 to Kipling, and the train's quicker (Assuming you are coming on the 401, or nearby). Either way, both options are much preferable to trying to drive, especially if there happens to be another game (Jays) or some form of concert going on.
" you might have to wait for a couple of trains back" No. All the regular west bound trains (not rush hour) arrive at 49 minutes past the hour at Exhibition and you can always get on. But you have to leave the ground by 25 mins to the hour at the latest to catch the train. If you miss it you have an hour to wait. It is always better for the train riders to have a 7.30 kick off or 3.30.