Vancouver Airport (YVR) to downtown
The Canada Line runs from inside the terminal to downtown in about 25 minutes, and TransLink adds $6.50 to the fare for starting at the airport. The exemption list is public and several of the exemptions are easy to arrange.
- The YVR Airport AddFare is $6.50, up from $5 on 1 July 2026.
- It applies leaving the airport only. There is no AddFare on journeys towards YVR, so your trip back out costs the ordinary fare.
- It is charged on eastbound trips from YVR-Airport, Sea Island Centre or Templeton that end at Bridgeport or beyond.
- A DayPass bought anywhere except those three stations is exempt, and so is a single-use Compass Ticket bought off Sea Island.
- Monthly Pass holders are exempt. So are program-pass holders and Burkeville residents.
- Ordinary fares are $3.50, $5.10 and $6.70 for one, two and three zones with a Compass Ticket or contactless card, or $2.30, $3.40 and $4.60 on Compass stored value.
- After 6.30pm on weekdays, and all weekend, every trip is a 1-Zone fare. An evening arrival pays noticeably less.
- Travel between the three Sea Island stations is free of the AddFare, and refunded when you tap out.
The surcharge, and who does not pay it
- TransLink adds $6.50 to journeys that begin at the airport. It went up from $5 on 1 July 2026, alongside an average 5% rise across all fares.
- It is only charged in one direction: eastbound trips starting at YVR-Airport, Sea Island Centre or Templeton and ending at Bridgeport onwards. Going to the airport there is no AddFare at all.
- TransLink publishes the exemption list, and it is worth reading before you buy:
- Monthly Pass holders
- travel between the three Sea Island stations, which is refunded when you tap out
- Burkeville residents with the resident's Compass Card
- program-pass holders, such as U-Pass BC, BC Bus Pass, CNIB and TransLink employees
- DayPasses not bought on Sea Island
- single-use Compass Tickets not bought at the three Sea Island stations
- Those last two are the ones a visitor can act on. A DayPass or ticket in your pocket from an earlier day is exempt; the same product bought at the airport machine is not.
- The money does not go to the airport. TransLink states that it funds the Canada Line and that Vancouver Airport Authority receives none of it.
The ordinary fares underneath
- Compass Ticket or contactless card: 1-Zone $3.50, 2-Zone $5.10, 3-Zone $6.70.
- Compass Card stored value: 1-Zone $2.30, 2-Zone $3.40, 3-Zone $4.60.
- Adult DayPass, all zones, $12.55, valid from first use until 4am the next day. Concession $9.75.
- Every bus trip is a 1-Zone fare at all times, whatever distance it covers.
- After 6.30pm Monday to Friday, all weekend, and on provincial statutory holidays, the whole system is 1-Zone. Downtown from the airport crosses a zone boundary in the daytime and does not in the evening.
Getting on
- The Canada Line station is at the airport, not a shuttle ride away, which puts YVR in a small group of North American airports where you walk from the terminal onto the train.
- Downtown Vancouver is about 25 minutes, ending at Waterfront.
- Tap a contactless debit or credit card, or a phone, straight at the fare gate. Interac Debit, American Express, Mastercard and Visa are all accepted, as are Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.
- Transfers across bus, SeaBus, SkyTrain and HandyDART are included for 90 minutes on a Compass Card or Ticket.
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