nightstreak
Senior Member
As an aside, taxi drivers outside were engaging in illegal price gouging. I overheard everything from $90 to $150 and one driver told people it was $50 each person (can’t do that).
Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Airport Limos use a fixed rate.
nightstreak
Senior Member
I know. And an airport limo is like $60 bucks. The taxi drivers outside were taking advantage of stranded travellers and quoting them inflated prices. I really wish our city bylaw inspectors were actually being enforced. I wonder if recording the interactions would have helped getting them reported.
Edit: Found it here (Appendix C)
It's $53 from Union to YYZ. Demanding more is illegal. Charging per passenger is illegal. Not that this stops those scammers.
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smallspy
Senior Member
A lot of upset people trying to get to the airport from Union today with UPX out of service. Was this an anticipated downtime to fix the issues outlined above or another unexpected shutdown? If this can’t be fixed, it’s gonna be fun during the World Cup.
It was a planned closure, as it involved a bunch of work along the Weston Sub.
Buses went to Hwy 407 Station as Metrolinx was under the mistaken understanding that the Gardiner was closed for work this weekend. It was not.
Dan
Monarch Butterfly
Superstar
Why didn't the TTC run the 901 Airport-Eglinton Express bus to and from Mount Dennis Station when UPX is down? It was not implemented when Line 5 opened, but could be implemented at this point.
jcam
Active Member
Any word on what the Resources Road site will be used for going forward? Is it just Kitchener Line works staging at this point?
lastcommodore
Active Member
The TTC likes to pretend the UPX is not its problem and could not care less about it. I saw someone on xitter paging ttchelps asking why they didn't have any announcements or notices that the UPX was down bc of stranded passengers and ttchelps basically told them to kick rocks because the UPX is Metrolinx's problem, not the TTC's.
It's incredibly stupid and the TTC needs to start acting like it's part of an actual transit system and not an isolated island where nobody else matters. For crying out loud, their subway map still puts a bus to the airport and not the UPX...
Bojaxs
Senior Member
Is it not in the TTC's interest to encourage riders to take their airport shuttle from Kipling rather than the UPX train from Bloor station? TTC doesn't collect any fare revenue from the UPX.
lastcommodore
Active Member
No, and even if it was, the TTC should still be acting like it's part of a cohesive transit system and not an isolated island.
Suppose rider A takes UPX to Bloor then transfers onto Line 2. Versus rider B who takes the 901 to Kipling then line 2. Both riders would pay the TTC fare. (Rider A would additionally pay the UPX fare.)
Despite rider A and B paying the same fare, rider B would demand more service from the TTC than rider A, in the form of the 901 bus and on Line 2 from Kipling to Bloor, versus rider A who doesn't demand that because instead he demands that service from the UPX. Thus to the TTC rider A would be a more 'profitable' passenger.
The only time the TTC would benefit from someone not taking the UPX as compared to the TTC would be if the rider's route via the UPX would not take the TTC at all (e.g you live right on an UPX station)-- and if the rider does, the less they demand of the TTC, the more profitable.
Mihairokov
Senior Member
TTCHelps is correct, here. They have no control over UPX. I don't entirely expect Tokyo Metro to update me on closures of JR-East lines.
LNahid2000
Senior Member
This was the post:
They could still put a sign up at Dundas West telling people to continue to Kipling and catch the 900 so that their customers don't have to walk 5 minutes outside to the Bloor UP station only to realize it's closed and end up back on the TTC.
lastcommodore
Active Member
There's naturally a level of separation between services, but the reality is that as services become more and more integrated with each other people assume that there will be integration across all levels. You can ignore this at your own peril, which means in this case tons of passengers stranded at UPX stations because nobody told them that it was closed, because it was "not their responsibility".
Why not extend this even further? There was a recent case where LSW, parts of the TTC, and the Gardiner were shut down on the same weekend. It was nobody's responsibility to care for what the others did. Woodbine GO and Woodbine station. That's not Metrolinx's or the TTC's responsibility because they're separate services. Are we also going to be seeing the TTC ignoring if the Ontario Line shuts down because it's run by a consortium and not TTC?
The entire purpose of Metrolinx was to build greater responsibility and understanding between the transit agencies to act as a unified system for passengers and not a disconnected group of squabbling entities.
For the record, I am not saying it was the TTC's job to get the UPX online. There are planned shutdowns. The TTC does them too. The TTC also notifies people well in advance because this is critical infrastructure for people. UPX and Metrolinx do this too, but most people who take the UPX do so infrequently, but are regular TTC riders. The TTC declined to even do the bare minimum to tell people what to do, and people got stranded and gouged. All because it was not the TTC's responsibility to put up a sign saying "HEY KEEP GOING TO KIPLING AND TAKE THE 901".
Mihairokov
Senior Member
I like to believe that riders are smart enough that if a service is down they can quickly search or google alternative options. That's what I do when I travel, anyway. I don't see why we need to be asking TTC to put signs up at Metrolinx platforms when that isn't their responsibility.
TTC can barely cover their own outages. I think it's excessive to assume they could also cover others' outages with timely signage and wayfaring. A company that still uses paper signs on poles to alert of service changes is not ready or able to act swiftly in this way.
The reverse of this could also be true. If someone goes to take UPX but it's down, and TTC has maps indicating that the UPX is a service that exists, then people could complain to ttchelps about UPX being down. It's not their circus and it's not their monkeys.
Do you think that if Lakeshore East service is down from Oshawa that VIA Rail should be plastering Oshawa Durham College GO Station with signage indicating as such? It's not their responsibility if other services falter. Like I said above, riders generally aren't idiots, and part of travelling is having to adjust plans where necessary. If I had to take an Uber any time a streetcar diverted or a bus never arrived I'd be taking a lot of Ubers!
Obviously there's a profit incentive argument to be made that TTC is "missing out" on these trips, but IMO that's looking at this problem in the reverse. We should be looking to get people where they need to be going, not making money from them as a resolution.
Perhaps we would all enjoy a more unified approach to how transit works throughout the GTA but unfortunately we have different levels of government with different levels of priority and they will only very rarely align in the same direction of wants and needs.
txlseries4
Active Member
With how tumultuous the partnership between the two agencies seems to be it's unsurprising to me that the TTC isn't falling over itself to do the job that Metrolinx isn't.
nfitz
Superstar
I don't think anyone is asking TTC to put signs at Metrolinx platforms. But a sign at the TTC station, a 5+ minute walk from the Metrolinx station. Or heck, on those monitors that keep us informed about TTC disruptions.