wickline writes "
I thought I'd take the bus/metro from the airport to the campus...
see a bit more scenery and maybe spot some interesting things to
do in off hours. Mapping out the route took enough doing that I
thought I'd share the results for anyone else who might be thinking
along the same lines. I'm ariving Tue evening and leaving Sat morning.
These routes may not be ideal for folks on other schedules."
Nifty, thanks. I was wondering about some of this stuff today, myself.
Arrival:
Walk 400m to Cote de Liesse and Avoca and find a bus route 202
stop on the north side of Cote de Liesse
(this map
indicates that you should be walking 400m east and south).
Take the 202 DAWSON bus east about two stops to the
GARE DORVAL commuter train station. Catch the 211 BAIE D'URFE
bus east and go about 25min to the last stop which will
be the Lionel-Groulx metro station (You can find the station
on this pretty map).
Take the green line four stops to the McGill station, and as the
YAPC site suggests: exit the station to University Street and walk
north (uphill) until you hit the campus.
Departure:
Return to the McGill station. Take the green line past
the Lionel-Groulx station to the second-to-last station which
is Du College. This next bit is tricky... Open a neighborhood
map in a new window.
Find the intersection of RUE OUIMET (vertical street on map) with
RUE CARTIER (horizontal). This is toward the bottom-right of
the image. The white 'down arrow in a circle' symbol represents
the metro station at Du College. You'll need to get to the
corner of RUE OUIMET and RUE CARTIER to catch the 202 DAWSON
bus going west.
Take the 202 about 25 minutes (about 30 stops) and get off at
COTE DE LIESSE and AVOCA. The bus will be driving down COTE DE LIESSE
and the stops before AVOCA will be at...
- Opp 10525
- Face au 10755
- 55e avenue
- av. Halpern
- (then AVOCA)
- (Opp 12055 and Gare Dorval commuter train station are too far)
From here, walk to the airport. It's the same 400m walk you did
the other way upon arrival.
Not a practical nor a particularly scenic route
brevity on 2001-06-12T02:41:17
I used to live in Montreal till last year. I wouldn't take this route.
First of all you would have to walk a pretty hefty distance to get to the 202, on a highway. Then you have to cross the highway to get to the east-bound side, so you'll have to find one of the infrequent passerelles. And then you are going to take a ride through the industrial park. If you are riding in the afternoon it will be crowded with shift workers and office drones.
I am going to assume that most people will be tired and baggage laden and just want to dump their stuff and start having fun. Montreal's suburbs have their charm but there's nothing really charming between Dorval and downtown. You want to make that trip as fast as possible.
(n.b. in Montreal, "East-West" in directions doesn't correspond to the points of a compass. St-Catherine Street is considered East-West. Even though the actual direction of the street is sort of NE/SW.)
If you want the most economical ride, take the city bus # 204, which stops right outside the airport doors. Make sure that you are going in the direction of Gare Dorval, which is a combination commuter train/bus terminus. Make sure to get a transfer from the driver (yellow mini-punchcard).
BY TRAIN FROM GARE DORVAL:
From Gare Dorval, if you are lucky with the schedule, you can hop a train (fastest) straight to downtown, but you will have to walk a bit more at the end. If this isn't your cup of tea, or if no train is coming soon, skip ahead to the "BY BUS" section.
Make sure you are eastbound, "direction Montreal". You can then get off at Gare Windsor, which is actually built right into the Molson Centre hockey arena.
You are now in the general area of downtown, but you will have to walk several streets uphill and east to get to the McGill residences. Consult local maps or ask directions.
BY BUS FROM GARE DORVAL:
Take the 211, going east to downtown (direction Centre-ville). You can show your driver the transfer to get on, but make sure to keep it. This goes straight to downtown and Lionel-Groulx Metro station. (Metro==subway).
You can then feed your little yellow punch card into the turnstiles to enter the Metro system.
From there, get on the green line headed east. Note that paradoxically, the eastbound line starts off heading WEST at this station. It curves around later. Get off at McGill metro station (just a few stops).
You are now in the general vicinity of McGill. There are many exits. Use one of the maps at the Metro exits to orient yourself. (labelled 'Carte du Quartier', map of the district. You are here == "Vous etes ici")
Then it's a short walk to McGill and the residences and probably most of the hotels YAPC-goers are using.
This whole trip from will probably take you an hour on average. You have other options at the Airport for shuttles that go downtown for about $15 I think, or blow approximately $23.00 Canadian on a taxi.
Re:Not a practical nor a particularly scenic route
wickline on 2001-06-12T12:40:32
Awww.... but I
like walking on freeways!
:(
Thanks Brevity! Those important details just aren't visible from the 'net (at least not where I was looking).
-matt
Re:Not a practical nor a particularly scenic route
vsergu on 2001-06-12T14:21:16
... or blow approximately $23.00 Canadian on a taxi.
I actually blew C$33 + C$5 tip, but the traffic was awful, so the meter spent a fair amount of time ticking. I'll have to figure out a better way to get back to the airport Sunday.
