Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited

mjl08 said:
Has anyone been on the UPX since the free ride launch? What does ridership look like so far?
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I took a trip to the airport at roughly 8:30am on Tuesday from Bloor Station. My car had about 10 people on it (including myself). I've got a return trip (inbound from airport) later today. I suspect ridership will be a bit lower on Saturday afternoon.
 
TOareaFan said:
It is certainly listed as a fare option online...which I assumed is where most visitors would have researched/read about the train....where is it that they are hiding it?
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I meant on the ticket terminals. The UPexpress fare terminals are the only thing you see before you go into the station. This was my first time using PRESTO and thinking that I had to pay before going into the station, I tried to pay with my PRESTO on the fare terminal. There was no mention of PRESTO or the discount anywhere in the menus. So I wandered in and found the PRESTO tap terminal behind a pillar.

The UPexpress fare terminals should dispense a disposable paper PRESTO card that visitors can use during the trip. A case could be made that the UPexpress discount would be offset by visitors' use of transit since they would already have a PRESTO card.
 
rbt said:
I took a trip to the airport at roughly 8:30am on Tuesday from Bloor Station. My car had about 10 people on it (including myself). I've got a return trip (inbound from airport) later today. I suspect ridership will be a bit lower on Saturday afternoon.
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A train arriving at Pearson around 3pm let out around 15 people. My trip into the city a few minutes later had 7 people in my car, and one was airline staff.

I and 2 people from the other car got out at Bloor Station.

So revenues, I would guess, are around $400/hour per train for much of the day.


I'm completely sold on the service and despite paying a TTC fare to get to Dundas West, I don't expect to take the 192 any-time soon.
 
I finally got out to take the UPX yesterday around noon. It was dead, me and two other passengers were the only ones on the train, grant you it seemed quiet elsewhere in the airport.

It really gets me how the UPX sound and feels like a cube truck or something similar. It is a bit noisy when the doors are open, it will be nice when it is electrified. The ride was comfortable, and it was kind of weird to me how fast it got going at some points after riding GO trains under slow orders.

Overall, a great experience, it's good to have this link. Price is a bit steep (after all it was a $19 joy ride), if it were $5 cheaper I wouldn't have had any qualms.
 
I heard that UPX has an issue maintaining the schedule due to the trains overheating climbing the incline. Not sure if its some or all the trains. I know from my experience ridding then, they were on time, but we are now in real time.

I know I have seen long and short headway between trains at various point than before.

My rarely use Milton train was delay 5 minutes by a UPX train at Union tonight. I use it since I was running late and had a meeting in Mississauga where local transit wouldn't get me to it on time.
 
For me, the "I learn something new" moment in this document is Metrolinx is a Hamilton Bus Garage on Page 39.

Is this for GO buses only, or also for HSR buses, as Hamilton City Council has been wanting a new bus garage for their buses too? Given it's a project completion by end of 2016, it's probably just a smaller garage for the popular Hamilton GO buses only, but I'm curious.
 
TOareaFan said:
It is certainly listed as a fare option online...which I assumed is where most visitors would have researched/read about the train....where is it that they are hiding it?
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I expect most visitors to find out about the train when they see the "Trains" sign at Pearson directing them to the platform.

I'm surprised about the Presto discount. Air Canada was advertising a 10% discount on UPX tickets sold as part of their on-board meal service, which is still more expensive than the Presto price.
 
innsertnamehere said:
no, they simply want an additional track past the UPx spur, which IIRC was the terminus of the Georgetown South EA.
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I went looking today for the source documents behind your quite correct recollection. This little adventure got me ranting:

The GO Transit and Metrolinx web sites do a very poor job of archiving the various EA's when commissioned, and of tracking for us taxpayers whether they have been completed and finalised. Or, for that matter, whether they were acted upon. This is one of the reasons why it is so easy for these agencies and their political masters to rewrite history and set off in new directions - leaving the old ones buried.

First, here's a presentation from 2006 which does establish that as far back as 2006, everybody was focussed on the airport line first and Georgetown second

http://www.gotransit.com/gts/en/resources/archive/pic/go_pic_presentation_final_june21.pdf

But..... here's a 2002 document asserting that a study will provide the full assessment for the line to Georgetown at least

http://www.gotransit.com/gts/en/resources/archive/other/GO_Expansion_EA-Report_Draft-Rev6.pdf

And here's a 2009 commentary by Steve Munro, quoting (accurately, I'm quite confident) Gary MacNeil who states that the EA for the expansion all the way to Kitchener is complete and ready for approval (but - also that improvements for Georgetown GO aren't a priority before 2015)

http://stevemunro.ca/2009/10/27/go-transits-service-plans-small-changes-now-more-later/

And, of course, there is in fact an EA report

http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/docs/ea/georgetown-kitchener/rail_expansion_esr.pdf

Lastly, here's a 2013 commentary by a Brampton Councillor about the whole thing:

http://www.bramptonguardian.com/new...-service-derailed-by-big-business-councillor/

My own recollection knows that I have seen a GO powerpoint presentation showing the exact proposed alignment of the third track through central Brampton (it is controversial, because it proposes removing the current Depot, a heritage structure). So there was likely the start of an EA on that part specifically.

My point is - Call me anal but I would like to see a properly indexed, searchable, and sustained archive of all the projects that GO initiates. So we can see where they are driving to completion, and where they have lost the thought and moved on. There's a lot of "ready, aim, aim, aim....." in this file and not a lot of forward movement. And a lot of promises forgotten.

PS - If I am simply missing a link to an index that actually exists on these agencies' web sites, please tell me and I will gladly admit my folly.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
(it is controversial, because it proposes removing the current Depot, a heritage structure).
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Is that the train station? It certainly can be relocated several meters northwards; bigger brick buildings than that have been relocated.
 
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