kEiThZ
Superstar
I don't know why everyone keeps worrying about the poor family of four taking Blue 22. They won't. The service is not designed for them. The service is for particularly time-sensitive business travelers who value the convenience (and are willing to pay for it). For the rest of us, there will be the Eglinton and Finch LRTs and the Malton GO. The family of four is not going to pay $176. They would take a taxi or public transit. That would also be the case elsewhere in the world. I can't imagine a family of four heading out on an excursion fare from Heathrow, taking the Heathrow Express from Paddington. They would either cab, park and fly, take Heathrow Connect or the Tube...all of which would work out cheaper per person than taking Heathrow Express.
As many have pointed out this service will largely replace cabs which are normally expensed by the employer for most business travelers. So as long the Blue 22 fare+cab ride from Union to downtown hotel/office is equal or less than the cab fare from the airport to said downtown hotel/office there will be a solid market for the service. Seen from that perspective, they could probably get away with charging more than $30 for single riders.
The only competitive threat is taxi sharing which for two people probably comes in at only slightly less than $30 and offers a slower and less comfortable ride than a train (even if its a Budd RDC). The only passengers I could see them losing are those who would share 3 or more to a taxi (the noted family of four example) and those who would prefer to take the $17 airport shuttle bus service instead. However, these folks would lose out on productive time (train time with wifi = productivity), some degree of schedule certainty and speed. But more than likely they don't really care about that any way. How many traveling families would start their journey at Union anyway? And how many would need the degree of schedule certainty needed by business travelers or access to wi-fi en route? And how many business travelers would travel three to cab? I think Blue 22 has done probably done a decent job of analyzing the market and they will price their service according to what the market will bear. But this is not public transit and we should not expect it to be, anymore than we should expect taxis to start serving downtown-airport customers at public transit rates.
As many have pointed out this service will largely replace cabs which are normally expensed by the employer for most business travelers. So as long the Blue 22 fare+cab ride from Union to downtown hotel/office is equal or less than the cab fare from the airport to said downtown hotel/office there will be a solid market for the service. Seen from that perspective, they could probably get away with charging more than $30 for single riders.
The only competitive threat is taxi sharing which for two people probably comes in at only slightly less than $30 and offers a slower and less comfortable ride than a train (even if its a Budd RDC). The only passengers I could see them losing are those who would share 3 or more to a taxi (the noted family of four example) and those who would prefer to take the $17 airport shuttle bus service instead. However, these folks would lose out on productive time (train time with wifi = productivity), some degree of schedule certainty and speed. But more than likely they don't really care about that any way. How many traveling families would start their journey at Union anyway? And how many would need the degree of schedule certainty needed by business travelers or access to wi-fi en route? And how many business travelers would travel three to cab? I think Blue 22 has done probably done a decent job of analyzing the market and they will price their service according to what the market will bear. But this is not public transit and we should not expect it to be, anymore than we should expect taxis to start serving downtown-airport customers at public transit rates.
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