Our car has been out of town for a week and I had to run an errand out to the airport, so I though I’d try out the Union Pearson Express. The UP express has been running for only about three weeks now, so it is still brand shiny new. I biked out to the Bloor (at Dundas West) Station.
Here is the signage on the railpath at Bloor.
Here is the entrance, hidden way under the rail bridges over Bloor. Eventually, this station will be tied properly to the TTC, but the easiest solution was blocked by the owner of the Crossways building complex.
Here is a view of the stairs up from the lobby. I should have taken a wider shot which would have shown ticket vending machines to the right, and manned ticket windows to the left. I bought a Presto card here to reduce the UP fare.
There are plenty of pictures of the interiors of these trains already posted on the internet. I’ll only note two things: firstly the seats are fixed and cannot be swiveled like on Japanese trains.
Secondly, this map shows that the UP Express only goes to Terminal 1, and you have to board a separate tram to get to Terminal 3. The display showing delayed flights was a nice touch. Also no problems using the on board wifi.
The transit time from Bloor to the airport was a speedy 17 minutes.
Once at the airport, I saw that you walk through the platform for the inter-terminal tram on your way to Terminal 1.
Another nice thing about the UP Express is that you get views you normally wouldn’t see. Here is a shot of the back of the T1 parking garage.
You can see that there is still a lot of work being done on the Weston stop.
The platforms for both Bloor and Weston look like there are being extended so that eventually the shelters can accommodate longer trains. For the moment, each train is only two cars.
On both my midday trips, the train had less than 10 people on it. The conductor told me that it is busier in the afternoons, and she hoped that business would pick up during PanAm. However, this report says that the service is meeting its ridership targets.
The claimed time from Union to the airport is 25 minutes, so doing a little math, it takes about 7 minutes to get from Union to Dundas West.
Here is the readout on the card reader when I touched the Presto card after disembarking from the train.
It would be a great alternative if it was much cheaper, but I understand the strategy of positioning this train as a premium service. For us as a family of four, we’ll stick to a limo. However, for the single business traveller, it is a great option.
I was pleased with the service, but I had one remaining concern: it’s not clear to me what the hours of the ticket window is at Bloor (the only way you can get a Presto card at this station). There was someone there at 10 am on my way out, but no one there at noon upon my return.
Update: here is a snarkier review of essentially the same trip.
Why isn’t it just part of the transit system and cost the same as going that far on it?
Not knowing much about transit planning myself, I’d say the answer is complicated. I think that some of the reason is the same as why GO fares differ from TTC. TTC is run for high ridership and the lowest possible fares, whereas UP and GO are more like regional rail. We will definitely have the same issue if and when SmartTrack ever comes to pass. In reality, TTC should have a zoned fare system as well which might bring in enough revenue so that it wouldn’t lose quite so much money on operations. While we are at it, let’s remove the subsidies that are built in to driving cars, and use that money for transit as well…..
It’s asinine. It’s on the same route as the Union-Malton-Georgetown GO train, which is getting upgraded to more frequent service. If the GTA didn’t have the transit planning suited to a city the size of Hamilton, that GO line would run more frequently, and the light-rail in the airport would run out to a station on the GO line: linking people to the city, and to the west all the way out to Kitchener.
Imagine that with a DRL: Dundas West-Union-Greenwood. This city might even work.
I got a free ride and will never take it again. I would under specific circumstances: I lived walking distance from Union, had little luggage, and nobody to share a limo with. Short of that, it is always cheaper to go by limo or TTC, and not as inconvenient. They can put a station on the Bloor Line, but the entrance is poorly located, so why wouldn’t I continue to Kipling for the ‘Airport Rocket’ and keep thirty bucks in my pocket? Per person!
It’s going to fail or get a bailout within five to ten years. Am sure it got some politicians nice corporate sinecures for retirement.
I am used to Tokyo. Narita is a false comparision; Haneda is the distance from downtown that Pearson is. It costs about 700y to get to it from Tokyo Station. Toronto, ‘World Class’.
While it’s good to have someone like Jun try it out and then blog about it, the whole thing is a travesty really – a less-wise to wasteful use of a half-billion and more importantly maybe, a squandering of a very rare linear corridor. Some of us did try to nudge things towards better public usage, but it takes soooo long to get nothing done in this City, or scant sensible done, one can get a bit burnt in the efforts. The numbers will likely not be favourable and if we care about the climate chaos, we can’t continue flying so much either.
For further perspectives on transit scheming in Caronto, the stevemunro.ca or swanboatsteve blog is Excellent, though I’ll disagree with him on some things.
And yes, if we had the same degree of user pay for cars as we do for transit…. it would be a markedly different place. An old Canadian figure was $2700 per car per year of avoided costs (including externalities) from Vancouver. The vtpi.org site has a lot more data, but facts don’t seem to matter with the Caronto pols, and there are soo many votorists….
Hi there,
I wonder if the station between ttc and UP is reasonable close if i’m carrying a large luggage? I am trying to plan the trip between airport and my place and sadly i don’t have a car.
it is about a five minute walk, so it is more of an inconvenience. There are elevators on the UPX end.
Just wondering is that Presto Card with the Union Pearson Express design still available anywhere? Thank you!