Moderators: North Shore, sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, I WAS Birddog
Exactly. For all the complainers out there...just dont use it if you don't like it. Canada is a young country with young cities. It takes a long time to buld up infrastructure. At least they are going in the right direction.cdnpilot77 wrote:FYI a taxi downtown is $55 and can take a significantly longer time in rush hour than the train...it is a service that I will use regularly.
I took a ride on the UPX last week when visiting Toronto. Even though I no longer live there, I've always had a geeky interest in Toronto's public transit and transportation planning (I have a degree in urban geography). I have very mixed feelings about the train.FighterPilot wrote:Anyone go for a spin on the train lately? Has it been jammed full like a sardine can or barren?
Great analysis, however the transit planning is filled with spineless know- nothings.JBI wrote:I took a ride on the UPX last week when visiting Toronto. Even though I no longer live there, I've always had a geeky interest in Toronto's public transit and transportation planning (I have a degree in urban geography). I have very mixed feelings about the train.FighterPilot wrote:Anyone go for a spin on the train lately? Has it been jammed full like a sardine can or barren?
The service was generally quite pleasant. It was easy to purchase a ticket, the Union terminal is nice, the trains were clean and comfortable with wifi and the ride was very convenient. The car was quite empty. I didn't count, but I would guess that it was only 10-20% full. While this makes for a more comfortable ride as a passenger, overall I'd say that's a negative thing. Besides me, it seemed ALL the other passengers were business folks. The train made two stops, Bloor and Weston, I think 1 person got on at Bloor and nobody got on at Weston.
The platform at Pearson is pretty cool as the UPX platform is located right beside the Intra-terminal train so you don't need to change levels.
As a premium service, the UPX is pretty good. The convenient times and ride definitely make it the easiest way to get to Pearson from downtown. I think that more business folks and upper middle class folks from the downtown core will use this service and pay for the ticket cost.
That being said, I really don't think that that demographic should have been the priority. While many people have compared the service to London's Heathrow or Gatwick Express, in London, both airports have alternative, less direct but much less expensive, train service. Heathrow is there terminus of the Piccadilly Line and Gatwick is on the regional rail line. Pearson only has bus service which is suboptimal.
This really should have been a subway or other alternative rapid transit line along the same corridor. The population density along the corridor would support the viability of a subway line in addition to providing train service to the airport. In my opinion, the extra expense would have been worth the greater benefit.
Better. Much better pricing. No one is going to pay $27 when you can take a cab for $50.av8ts wrote:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/tor ... e28839671/
Looks like Metrolinx is finally taking their heads out of the sand and realizing what everyone else has know from the start.
Why exactly do these stations make no sense?Rookie50 wrote:Better. Much better pricing. No one is going to pay $27 when you can take a cab for $50.av8ts wrote:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/tor ... e28839671/
Looks like Metrolinx is finally taking their heads out of the sand and realizing what everyone else has know from the start.
But "serving neighborhoods it rides through"? Thats not its purpose, and those weston and bloor stations make no sense
Really?Exactly. For all the complainers out there...just dont use it if you don't like it. Canada is a young country with young cities. It takes a long time to buld up infrastructure. At least they are going in the right direction.
WTF? For a transit service? God the pork-barrelling is nauseating.But somehow, in a city desperately in need of more and better mass transit, the plan for the UPX was not focused on building a train to serve Torontonians, and not on carrying commuters. Instead, it was about impressing occasional foreign visitors, particularly well-heeled ones. Metrolinx and the government somehow got it in their heads that what Toronto really needed was the Davos of trains.
Franz from Frankfurt, partner in an international consulting firm who flies to Toronto once a year, arriving rested after a night in the business cabin’s lie-flat bed, was Metrolinx’s fantasy date; sorry, fantasy passenger. They were a lot less interested in Sangeeta from Scarborough, who works at the airport and commutes there and back 500 times a year. And they were actively hostile to Wendy from Weston, who commutes into the city every day, using a much slower route than the airport train. It was so important to get Franz downtown quickly and without contact with the hoi polloi that, in the initial plan, the UPX was to pass through Toronto’s neighbourhoods without stopping. Why? Because World Class City, or something like that.
The UP Express even hired style guru Tyler Brûlé and his firm Winkreative to conjure up a look, feel and experience that, according to documents obtained last year by the Toronto Star, would “lure choice riders.” There are greeters on the train and in the stations, sporting fashion-forward uniforms. The UPX has its own magazine, its own chief executive officer, layers of management, “executive quality seats” – and fewer riders than the Toronto Transit Commission’s most underused bus routes.
That's not true. I live in "those communities", and the only thing that I, and others don't like about the UPX is thats its not electric and that its not built by Bombardier.N181CS wrote:People in those communities don't much like the UPX, nor does a lot of Toronto. Giving it more then one purpose might help people accept that their tax dollar was used to build it. Not like it adds a lot of time to the journey. Seems like most people who really like the concept are not from Toronto. Also the extra stations stop you form needing to back track by cab or TTC or if people want to get picked up you can avoid the mess of the airport or downtown. I hope the employee rate gets axed in half as well.
Really hard to improve on these comments. Clearly most involved with the oversight of this project, and most on recent history in Ontario, have never run a sucessful company for profit.complexintentions wrote:I had to laugh at comments like this actually defending this typically Canadian government cluster-f&ck:
Really?Exactly. For all the complainers out there...just dont use it if you don't like it. Canada is a young country with young cities. It takes a long time to buld up infrastructure. At least they are going in the right direction.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/ ... e28859016/
WTF? For a transit service? God the pork-barrelling is nauseating.But somehow, in a city desperately in need of more and better mass transit, the plan for the UPX was not focused on building a train to serve Torontonians, and not on carrying commuters. Instead, it was about impressing occasional foreign visitors, particularly well-heeled ones. Metrolinx and the government somehow got it in their heads that what Toronto really needed was the Davos of trains.
Franz from Frankfurt, partner in an international consulting firm who flies to Toronto once a year, arriving rested after a night in the business cabin’s lie-flat bed, was Metrolinx’s fantasy date; sorry, fantasy passenger. They were a lot less interested in Sangeeta from Scarborough, who works at the airport and commutes there and back 500 times a year. And they were actively hostile to Wendy from Weston, who commutes into the city every day, using a much slower route than the airport train. It was so important to get Franz downtown quickly and without contact with the hoi polloi that, in the initial plan, the UPX was to pass through Toronto’s neighbourhoods without stopping. Why? Because World Class City, or something like that.
The UP Express even hired style guru Tyler Brûlé and his firm Winkreative to conjure up a look, feel and experience that, according to documents obtained last year by the Toronto Star, would “lure choice riders.” There are greeters on the train and in the stations, sporting fashion-forward uniforms. The UPX has its own magazine, its own chief executive officer, layers of management, “executive quality seats” – and fewer riders than the Toronto Transit Commission’s most underused bus routes.
The president of this boondoggle, Kathryn Haley, earns the meagre salary of $234,292.63 to preside over this stunning achievement. What are her credentials? Years of experience in ground transportation operational management? Nope. Years of experience in public sector operations of any kind? Nope. Years of experience in private sector management? Ha ha. Had to throw that one in.......Nope.
Ms. Haley was a brand management expert consultant. A consultant who helped companies make their brand more powerful which in turn leads to more profits. Except, if you review her bio, she never was at one company for more than a couple years.
But she was a woman and had great connections in the Liberal Party of Ontario.
Ontario is circling the drain. Most indebted non-sovereign entity in the world.
I just rode the Link Transit light rail from Seatac airport to the downtown core of Seattle yesterday. Took 40 minutes, trains run every 6 minutes at peak. Cost? $3. Even with the disembowelled Canuckbuck, that's still only $4 CAD.
Why don't people in Canada look at places that have successful systems in place and emulate them, instead of making decisions based on image and political correctness? Why aren't Canadians taking up pitchforks and torches to idiots like these? People just sit there and take it. Sad.
Believe the line is still used by freigh for certain sections thus overhead electric not possible at this time, but in the future.av8ts wrote:I'm also amazed that this new train in 2015 has diesel engines. The rest of the world has been using electric for years
clearly the market disagrees......London ain't torontoCod Father wrote:Gatwick Express from Gatwick to Victoria Station is 19.90 GBP or 17.70 GBP if bought online ($49.50 CAD or $44.25 CAD @ a 2.5 exchange rate)
Heathrow Express from Heathrow to Paddington is 17.00 GBP or $42.50 CAD @ 2.5 exchange rate.
Believe me, $27.50 CAD for UP EXpress is only 11 GBP @ 2.5 exchange rate.
UP Express is a sweet deal for the traveller.
Don't like it? Take the TTC 192 Airport Rocket to the Bloor Subway Line for $3.25 of $2.90 with tokens
I would agree with you IF Toronto had an actual public transit rail link to the airport like both Gatwick and Heathrow do but it does not. The TTC 192 Airport Rocket is not an acceptable alternative for most people travelling to the airport. There's a fundamental difference between a one train ride to the city and bus ride connecting to the terminus subway station with another connection to get downtown. The prices on the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow for £6.00 ($11.28 CAD) or on Southern Rail for £14.00 peak times ($26.30) or £8.00 ($15.04) non-peak times.Cod Father wrote:Gatwick Express from Gatwick to Victoria Station is 19.90 GBP or 17.70 GBP if bought online ($49.50 CAD or $44.25 CAD @ a 2.5 exchange rate)
Heathrow Express from Heathrow to Paddington is 17.00 GBP or $42.50 CAD @ 2.5 exchange rate.
Believe me, $27.50 CAD for UP EXpress is only 11 GBP @ 2.5 exchange rate.
UP Express is a sweet deal for the traveller.
Don't like it? Take the TTC 192 Airport Rocket to the Bloor Subway Line for $3.25 of $2.90 with tokens
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