LNahid2000
Senior Member
I see one person with baggage in the picture you posted on the previous page.
There were 1500 free tickets, and in addition to this, media were allowed on for free as well.
Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited
There were 1500 free tickets, and in addition to this, media were allowed on for free as well.
TheTigerMaster
Superstar
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chriskillam/18541753815/in/album-72157653739955478/lightbox/
My new shoes are in this picture (blue New Balance)
I was under the impression (assumed) that the picture was taken today (day after opening). Considering how expensive tickets are, I'd expect that almost all the riders would be using the UPX for "genuine" trips (not rail fanning).
Either way, it is too early to make any useful observations about ridership. I look forward to seeing how UPX performs through the rest of this week
mdrejhon
Senior Member
Agreed to both of you. Let's wait and see (something we can agree on).
LNahid2000
Senior Member
The flickr page shows the picture was taken yesterday. Taking pictures of the platform today probably tells a completely different story.
ehlow
Senior Member
For what it's worth, based on my & other's observations on launch day, a good percentage of people were actually travellers with luggage. A lot of people were looking for that $27 express bus to downtown that used to run but took the train instead (since the bus no longer runs). Sometimes the train was half empty, sometimes more full.
Having said that, obviously you can't judge by launch day like everyone is saying.
Having said that, obviously you can't judge by launch day like everyone is saying.
crs1026
Superstar
The one thing that can be said even at this early juncture is - the general ambience and amenities really are attractive. The UPX station area is now the gem of Union Station, something for VIA and GO to emulate. Assuming the riders do come, they may well ask "how come the rest of your infrastructure isn't this nice?". That's a good question for our politicians to be asked.
- Paul
ehlow
Senior Member
Yeah they are beautiful stations and the ride is quiet, smooth, fast. Probably the best looking transit stations in Toronto actually. Even the signs at the door that say "X minutes till train departs" are beautiful.
By biggest worry for visitors in the short term is that they'll buy a Presto thinking they can use it for the subway, since it's cheaper to buy the card, yet so many TTC stations & streetcars don't take Presto yet. Hopefully most of the TTC that a tourist would use will be covered this year.
drum118
Superstar
There were close to 4,000 free passes out there. I was offer passes by Metrolinx at Union, but already had them. Was told Twitter users could earn more tickets based on twitted.
From my 4 train rides, 30% ridership.
There were riders going both way with luggage, but very few.
Given this is the first day, not many travelers knew about it. A few up a Pearson were given discount passes along with Presto cards. A few people I talked to at Bloor had no luggage and were going to the airport. They also said, they will use this line very rare for travel as its too expensive. Saw a lot of free family using the train, none with luggage.
Other than 1 train going to Pearson, saw no one getting on at Bloor, Saw 1 train drop off free riders that were on my Union run.
You got to give this line at least 2-3 years to reinforce the ridership numbers being a failure.
The connecting doors were a major issue to the point you push the button and had to knock on it to see if it would open. Some cases you had to wait for some from the other car to open the door.
The boys from Japan had long list of things to be fix as well trying to get crews to deal with some of them
From my 4 train rides, 30% ridership.
There were riders going both way with luggage, but very few.
Given this is the first day, not many travelers knew about it. A few up a Pearson were given discount passes along with Presto cards. A few people I talked to at Bloor had no luggage and were going to the airport. They also said, they will use this line very rare for travel as its too expensive. Saw a lot of free family using the train, none with luggage.
Other than 1 train going to Pearson, saw no one getting on at Bloor, Saw 1 train drop off free riders that were on my Union run.
You got to give this line at least 2-3 years to reinforce the ridership numbers being a failure.
The connecting doors were a major issue to the point you push the button and had to knock on it to see if it would open. Some cases you had to wait for some from the other car to open the door.
The boys from Japan had long list of things to be fix as well trying to get crews to deal with some of them
agoraflaneur
Active Member
Love that last picture with the CN Tower in the distance.
christiesplits
Senior Member
I'm genuinely surprised that even with the huge media blitz and coupons that there are trains running more than two-thirds empty.
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nrb
Active Member
Still can't get over the hideous colour scheme of this thing.
ndawgg
Active Member
I was one of the people who managed to get free tickets from the 1500 that were given away. Here are my (completely amateurish) observations from the day (which seem to contradict what a lot of others on this thread are saying). I rode from Union to Pearson and then back.
Aesthetically (other than the weird choice of 70s colour scheme for the trains) everything looks great. Shiny and new, nice stations, etc. Everyone working was really friendly.
The (temporary?) signage in Union to get to the UPX was easy to follow from the subway and I had no trouble finding it. (Even though I live right downtown at yonge/college I'm never in Union station)
There were a bunch of opening day glitches. The tickers that show when the next train is arriving went from 5mins to 25 mins to next train. Almost like one was supposed to show and then didn't...but then it did, so it went back to 5 mins a few mins later.
The train overshot it's mark and had to reverse and then pull up again. Then the doors we were standing at didn't open so we had to walk down to the next set of doors.
The ride was smooth and comfortable and probably only had about 10 people in my car, none with luggage that I could see. This was around 6pm on Saturday.
The UPX scanners wouldn't read my QR code from my iPhone. I had my brightness up to max and I often use my phone for things like this (used it on VIA just last weekend). Also VIA had tiny little scanners where the UPX ones look like the old giant scanners I used 15 years ago while stocking shelves. (I think it has to do having to scan different types of things like Presto cards too?) Anyway she entered it manually and that was fine.
When we arrived at the airport the woman gave the speech in English, (and you could tell it was a new speech because it was extremely unpolished as expected) but then the recording did it in French. I wondered why they didn't just have a recording for both languages. (Then on the way back they did so I guess the English one just malfunctioned on the trip to Pearson?)
They made everyone get off the train at Pearson so I walked into the airport to use the washroom (like a previous poster said, because there wasn't one near the Pearson station). Then I went back and got on the train that was just leaving. (I will note that there was no signage for it at Pearson. It just said things like "To Trains" and you had to know that they meant the airport monorail link thing and the UPX. I think that needs to be fixed)
Things seemed to work better on that trip but again only about 10 people, one woman had a large backpack which could have been luggage, but she was the only one. Also on this trip 4 of the people were friends who I think had ridden it a few times that day so I think some of the foot traffic was repeat riders.
Lastly, I timed it from my door to Pearson and it was 55 mins. (That included approx. 5 mins wasted lining up the train) When I go Line 1 -> Line 2 -> Bus #192 I do my door to Pearson in 1h05 or 10. I don't have a Metro Pass so with a Presto it would cost me $22 to use vs $3 for a savings of approx. 10-20mins and I live a few stops from Union. I'm not sure if the average Torontonian will use this, but then people spend way more money on frivolous stuff than I do so maybe they will? I think it'll be mostly tourists who don't know any better and think their options are UPX or cab, and business men who just need to get back and forth from Union to Pearson.
Anyway tl;dr version: Lots of opening day glitches, but nothing that can't be sorted out. It's a nice train/trip, but not worth the money for me, but probably will be for some.
Aesthetically (other than the weird choice of 70s colour scheme for the trains) everything looks great. Shiny and new, nice stations, etc. Everyone working was really friendly.
The (temporary?) signage in Union to get to the UPX was easy to follow from the subway and I had no trouble finding it. (Even though I live right downtown at yonge/college I'm never in Union station)
There were a bunch of opening day glitches. The tickers that show when the next train is arriving went from 5mins to 25 mins to next train. Almost like one was supposed to show and then didn't...but then it did, so it went back to 5 mins a few mins later.
The train overshot it's mark and had to reverse and then pull up again. Then the doors we were standing at didn't open so we had to walk down to the next set of doors.
The ride was smooth and comfortable and probably only had about 10 people in my car, none with luggage that I could see. This was around 6pm on Saturday.
The UPX scanners wouldn't read my QR code from my iPhone. I had my brightness up to max and I often use my phone for things like this (used it on VIA just last weekend). Also VIA had tiny little scanners where the UPX ones look like the old giant scanners I used 15 years ago while stocking shelves. (I think it has to do having to scan different types of things like Presto cards too?) Anyway she entered it manually and that was fine.
When we arrived at the airport the woman gave the speech in English, (and you could tell it was a new speech because it was extremely unpolished as expected) but then the recording did it in French. I wondered why they didn't just have a recording for both languages. (Then on the way back they did so I guess the English one just malfunctioned on the trip to Pearson?)
They made everyone get off the train at Pearson so I walked into the airport to use the washroom (like a previous poster said, because there wasn't one near the Pearson station). Then I went back and got on the train that was just leaving. (I will note that there was no signage for it at Pearson. It just said things like "To Trains" and you had to know that they meant the airport monorail link thing and the UPX. I think that needs to be fixed)
Things seemed to work better on that trip but again only about 10 people, one woman had a large backpack which could have been luggage, but she was the only one. Also on this trip 4 of the people were friends who I think had ridden it a few times that day so I think some of the foot traffic was repeat riders.
Lastly, I timed it from my door to Pearson and it was 55 mins. (That included approx. 5 mins wasted lining up the train) When I go Line 1 -> Line 2 -> Bus #192 I do my door to Pearson in 1h05 or 10. I don't have a Metro Pass so with a Presto it would cost me $22 to use vs $3 for a savings of approx. 10-20mins and I live a few stops from Union. I'm not sure if the average Torontonian will use this, but then people spend way more money on frivolous stuff than I do so maybe they will? I think it'll be mostly tourists who don't know any better and think their options are UPX or cab, and business men who just need to get back and forth from Union to Pearson.
Anyway tl;dr version: Lots of opening day glitches, but nothing that can't be sorted out. It's a nice train/trip, but not worth the money for me, but probably will be for some.
salsa
Senior Member
I went on my free ride in the evening, just before sunset. The glitches must have been ironed out over the course of the day because I didn't notice any problems.
mdrejhon
Senior Member
For those who know what UPX is, the temporary signage was pretty good. I took a brief look during lunch period, at the Union station. Very nicely approportioned, but will need refinements to the UPX marketing strategy.
The biggest problem at the moment, that Metrolinx probably want to make a priority, is tweaking the branding.
"UP Express" with a subheading at bottom of "To Airport" and "To Downtown" depending on where the signage is
At least for the first year or two.
This will make association between UP and airport stronger...
Even a few weeks ago -- Unfortunately, not everyone I talked to knew what a "Union Pearson Express" was until I told them. I think they should have "Airport Train" on all UPX signs all over downtown. Even the people downtown aren't always aware of what "UP Express" stands for. I think it should be "UP Express Airport Train", or an airplane icon incorporated into the UP logo. There seems to be more people incoming than people outgoing, at least from the little I briefly saw.
The random person at Pearson and at Union, is currently unaware of the train, even with billboards reminding them it's running.
We have to see what Metrolinx decides to do with the marketing as they are staking their success on this train. It seems to be more successful for incoming trains than outgoing trains, so there's a marketing debugging that needs to be done.
Pearson signage definitely will need to be improved as the revitalization of Union continues, so that "Trains to Downtown" is prominently displayed at Pearson and "Trains to Airport" is prominently displayed at Union.
Today, I learned more tricks about the fastest routes to getting to UPX. Go onto Platform 3 via any Platform 3 entrance and walk a straight line all the way to UPX. If the UPX Platform 3 entrance is blocked off, there's another Platform 3 entrance nearby that directly enters the Skywalk less than 100 meters from UPX. I knew about Platform 3, but I didn't recognize the Skywalk entrance during my last visit.
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