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

Is this a normal occurrence? Massive line for UPX. Taken 8 September.

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^Much will change when the work to add the fourth track comes to completion..... GO will be able (eventually) to rin equally frequent service, and few people will consider using UP for local trips. (I must say, it's much more convenient than waiting for the hourly GO).
I worry that the lack of progress at Woodbine will become a critical-path impediment, but 15 minute GO is otherwise not that far away. In the meanwhile, the added commuter traffic is tolerable.

- Paul
 
The one time I used the train from Pearson to Union luggage seemed to be regarded as a nuisance. If the raison d'etre is airport transport, it shouldn't be overwhelmed by commuters.
 
CapitalSeven said:
The one time I used the train from Pearson to Union luggage seemed to be regarded as a nuisance. If the raison d'etre is airport transport, it shouldn't be overwhelmed by commuters.
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Regarded by whom ? I'm surprised.... luggage and air travel are pretty much synonymous. Certainly the UP trains are built with plenty of luggage space.

Ontario made a huge strategic blunder by undertaking a $1.5B rail project (GTS)and giving the $457M airport component of that project the highest priority. The commuter capacity should have been completed first, and the airport leg only added later when the local transit mandate had been fulfilled. The airport link has proved to be a sound investment, but we are only getting to the point where the value from the bigger $1B of that investment is being extracted..

But that's a testament to how, in 2007-2012, there really wasn't an appetite for big ticket public investment in rail. The government had to hide behind the supposed break-even+ potential of an airport link to justify the GTS project. I hope public sentiment and awareness has shifted since then.

- Paul
 
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I was rudely told by the attendant to get it out of the way of the hordes. I'm not saying that the line should only be for airport travelers, but they should be the first consideration. Increasing and changing the service structure on the line should fix the issues.
 
Obsidian said:
How is more people using transit a huge problem for said transit??
If anything it will encourage more frequent trains
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Yeah, at the end of the day I get the point about this messing up the airport service, but only in North America would overcrowding of this sort be a sign we need to discourage the "wrong" sort of passenger rather than that we need to run more ******* trains.
 
slickpete83 said:
makes no sense ,they might as well take the Go train from Union to Weston, cheaper too
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It isn't much cheaper to take GO. The current GO fare from Union to Weston with Presto is $4.76. It's $5.02 on UP.

More critically though, is that the UP train runs every 15 minutes. GO only runs hourly, most of the day - including early rush-hour when I've seen busy UP trains around 3 pm.

Obsidian said:
How is more people using transit a huge problem for said transit??
If anything it will encourage more frequent trains
Click to expand...
They don't have more equipment. They don't even have enough to run all the current trains with the full 3-cars. They could spend years ordering more DMUs - likely from Japan. But they don't want to do that with electrification coming. So it's a constrained resource currently. It's reason-to-be is to provide service to the airport. If people can't get to the airport, because it's full of commuters going to Weston (and Bloor), then they need to adjust pricing, and/or add GO service.

Every GO train from Union between 8 am and 4 pm goes all the way to Mount Pleasant - or further. They could at least run a half-hour GO train in-between just to Bramlea.
 
nfitz said:
Every GO train from Union between 8 am and 4 pm goes all the way to Mount Pleasant - or further. They could at least run a half-hour GO train in-between just to Bramlea.
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I haven’t kept current on construction at Bramalea, but if the stub track and its platform are now complete and useable, they possibly could indeed do this - with very little additional demand on equipment and/or crewing.

- Paul
 
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