Toronto Premium Outlets Sucks, and Halton Hills is Responsible for That

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Hey pals!

Many people spend their shopping days out at the Toronto Premium Outlets, located just off Highway 401 near Trafalgar Road. The allure of an outdoor mall and the possibility of deals makes it a worthwhile destination. I have never been, however, and I am a hater of this mall. In this piece, I will explain why the Toronto Premium Outlets should not have been built, and why the municipality of Halton Hills acted with malice by approving it. Shocker, it will focus on transportation.

The Context

The Toronto Premium Outlets opened August 1st, 2013, to a bunch of fanfare. This was the first mall of this style in southern Ontario, and many equated it to many American outlet malls. This was not quite the case, but every weekend, people head there for some shopping. 

It doesn't take long to find webpages speaking about issues with traffic and parking at the mall. In fact, there is a huge sector of parking dedicated just for employees, which is a key focus of this article. The rationale behind all the traffic and limited parking? The mall has no public transit access.

The map below is important for understanding some of the transportation issues related to the mall.


As can be seen, the mall is situated in the furthest south corner of Halton Hills, very close to the crossroads of Mississauga, Milton, and Brampton. This location was chosen due to easy access to the 401. 

The Issue

The issue related to transportation is quite apparent: Halton Hills operates no local transit. As such, no local transit is able to service the mall, which is a major employment center. I genuinely cannot think of any pocket of employment this isolated from transit in the Greater Toronto Area; it's genuinely baffling.

What is important to note is that Milton, Mississauga and Brampton all have local transit service, and some GO bus routes operate along Highway 401 immediately south. As such, I believe that Halton Hills acted maliciously approving the mall. Why? Halton Hills would receive tax money from the mall, but would effectively push a lot of the servicing onto adjacent municipalities, and the province. Even if Halton Hills had a transit, the mall being so far south means it would be difficult to serve, so another city would have to step in to provide the service. Obviously, this has not panned out yet, and so the mall is a planning failure. 

I think a reasonable case could be made for Milton, Mississauga, and Brampton to sue Halton Hills over this (I mean, if it was a decade ago). This project is not in line with the Planning Act, as it grows employment in new, not existing areas, and the municipality did not take responsibility for the continued operation of the site. I am no legal expert, however, so I am not sure how the OLT would have ruled on this.

What's Next with the Premium Outlets

Beginning June 25, GO Transit will be rerouting some weekend service on their 25 route, with new 25L and 25W branches. While this progress, I see a number of issues with this proposal.

  • No convenient transfer for customers coming from Brampton;
  • A further slowing of the already slow 25 milk run, particularly for those heading to St Jacobs;
  • Stops situated out on Steeles at Trafalgar, not actually within the mall;
  • No weekday service;
  • No service before 9:30am and after 9:30pm, limiting usefulness for employees;
  • In Milton, the 25 only stops at the RR25/401 P&R, which is far north and has only dial-a-bus Milton Transit service;
  • As Milton Transit has no Sunday service, there is no opportunity for Milton customers to use this service.
Later in 2022, Milton Transit will roll out a new route between their municipality and Lisgar GO in Mississauga. Lisgar is the terminus of Brampton Transit's 11 and 511 ZUM Steeles routes, meaning there will now be a convenient transfer for Brampton customers. This is anticipated to be the busiest Milton route. Whether this will run during the week, we know not, but I already see one concern: Milton Transit doesn't use Presto Cards, requiring a different fare media when transferring. Can we not have anything simple!!


I guess in the end, Halton Hills got their wish: tax revenue without any responsibility. It's sad that other municipalities must burn their budget to prop up a failed municipality, but what do we expect from Halton?




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