· 1 min read
Scotiabank Arena and Rogers Centre: the getting-out problem
Twenty thousand people leave a downtown venue in fifteen minutes. Where your car waits decides whether you are home in twenty minutes or ninety.
Getting to a game or a concert in downtown Toronto is easy. Getting out is the part that ruins evenings. Scotiabank Arena and Rogers Centre sit within a few blocks of each other beside Union Station, and when either empties, the surrounding streets reach saturation almost immediately.
The pickup point is the whole decision
A car waiting at the venue door is a car in the middle of the jam. An agreed pickup two or three blocks away — north of the rail corridor, or east toward the Esplanade — is often a five minute walk and a twenty minute saving. We propose a specific corner when you book, and it is usually not the obvious one.
Leave slightly early, or deliberately late
The worst possible moment to reach the street is with everyone else. Either move a few minutes before the end, or have a drink somewhere and leave twenty minutes after. The middle option is the one that costs an hour.
When both venues run together
A Leafs or Raptors game and a Blue Jays game on the same evening is a materially different traffic picture, and so is a concert at Budweiser Stage or a Toronto FC match at BMO Field. We check the calendar for the date when quoting.
Groups
For six or more, one Sprinter beats two sedans in this specific situation — one vehicle to find, one pickup point, one departure. Sedans get separated in event traffic and then you are coordinating by phone in a crowd.
Booking the return
Book the outbound and the return together. Trying to arrange a car at 10.40pm as a venue empties is the least favourable moment in the city. See group and event transport.
