If you’re someone who requires a support person when you travel, that person can travel with you on Air Canada, WestJet and VIA Rail at no cost; our family has benefited from this several times, and I’ve always appreciated the moral underpinning of this policy, which is known as “one passenger, one fare.”

We didn’t learn until this trip that the same policy extends to the UP Pearson Express and GO Train as well.

For the UP Pearson Express, which runs from Pearson Airport to Union Station, you simply by one ticket, and declare the support person to the ticket inspector on the train. Details here.

For the GO Train, you buy one ticket and have it stamped with a blue “Attendant” stamp on purchase, and the ticket is used for both people. Details here.

The TTC—public transit in Toronto—has a similar policy, but it requires the support person to have a special “Support Person Assistance Card.”

I wish that someone had told us about all of this at raising-a-child-with-autism school.