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

Admiral Beez said:
But that defeats the whole purpose of the UPE, that of a premium service from downtown to the airport. If this was intended as a commuter line it would never have been built. It's like it's been hijacked by commuters because the low price presented a commuter hack. Metrolinx might as well tear out the coach-style seating and throw in overhead grab bars and TTC subway benches.

Sure, I'll return to the limo service, but it's a shame that what I saw as a fantastic transit option has been reduced to a cattle train through improper pricing.
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So air travellers who use the service once a week should be the ones who are catered to while the person who uses it twice daily should suffer. That makes sense. The problem is we needed a drl east and west. I'm glad the commuters are taking over this line. Without them politicians would try to pretend we can get by with just the University line.
 
Admiral Beez said:
But that defeats the whole purpose of the UPE, that of a premium service from downtown to the airport. If this was intended as a commuter line it would never have been built. It's like it's been hijacked by commuters because the low price presented a commuter hack. Metrolinx might as well tear out the coach-style seating and throw in overhead grab bars and TTC subway benches.

Sure, I'll return to the limo service, but it's a shame that what I saw as a fantastic transit option has been reduced to a cattle train through improper pricing.
Click to expand...

There's nothing premium about UPE at any price. Premium service takes you to/from your front door. This is a toy train marketed as much more but never will be no matter the fare. The "premium" marketing is just that. Marketing.
 
Jonny5 said:
There's nothing premium about UPE at any price. Premium service takes you to your door. This is a toy train no matter the fare.
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It does pretty much take me to my door. Last year I had to go to Vancouver for meetings. I threw my carry-on over my shoulder, took Bikeshare from Cabbagetown to Union and a quick train to Pearson. Loved it.

But what was premium is in its comparison to the subway. The UPE was quiet, comfy, perhaps even dignified transport. The little table is great for your coffee and tablet, and free Wifi was nice. There's no one standing over you holding onto a rail, no crazies or smelly folks, no one clipping their nails, no one hitting you with their backpack, no smell of urine or beggars walking the car demanding your money. That sounds like premium service to me.
 
Admiral Beez said:
It does pretty much take me to my door. Last year I had to go to Vancouver for meetings. I threw my carry-on over my shoulder, took Bikeshare from Cabbagetown to Union and a quick train to Pearson. Loved it.

But what was premium is in its comparison to the subway. The UPE was quiet, comfy, perhaps even dignified transport. The little table is great for your coffee and tablet, and free Wifi was nice. There's no one standing over you holding onto a rail, no crazies or smelly folks, no one clipping their nails, no one hitting you with their backpack, no smell of urine or beggars walking the car demanding your money. That sounds like premium service to me.
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Wait. Are you arguing for a service you used a total of once in the entire year?
 
tmlittle said:
Unfortunately it seems like something that may only get resolved if/when the Pearson rail station becomes a reality. With a larger terminal you can have proper GO service, but if Pearson becomes "Union West", the need for an express train to Union declines, especially with RER. Similarly people will have more options for getting to Union. I think the idea someone mentioned a while ago about UPX turning into a "Pearson express" airport rail link branding with connections throughout the GTA might make sense by the time that switch over would happen in the 2030s. Similarly if UPX held onto its existing terminal that would give it a niche and advantage over GO trains for air travellers.
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To be a true Union west Pearson's transit hub needs Local Buses, Regional Buses, Inter city bus (Greyhound, MEGABus), Streetcars/Subways, RER Rail, Regional Rail, UPX, and Passenger Rail.
 
Woodbridge_Heights said:
To be a true Union west Pearson's transit hub needs Local Buses, Regional Buses, Inter city bus (Greyhound, MEGABus), Streetcars/Subways, RER Rail, Regional Rail, UPX, and Passenger Rail.
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I mean, if it happens at all I imagine it would have all of those things except for the subway, unless something goes horribly wrong with the implementation.
 
UP and Presto are in the news cycle again, through the usual FOI request.


1574436568831.png

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www.thestar.com

UP Express, GO Presto machine mix-up led to 6,000 complaints in a year, documents show

The agency has since made changes to make the devices clearer for riders with success, says Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency in charge of the ...
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
 
salsa said:
UP and Presto are in the news cycle again, through the usual FOI request.


View attachment 216394
View attachment 216396

www.thestar.com

UP Express, GO Presto machine mix-up led to 6,000 complaints in a year, documents show

The agency has since made changes to make the devices clearer for riders with success, says Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency in charge of the ...
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
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I don't see why this is a problem for people if you aren't looking where you are tapping your card you deserve to pay the wrong fare. If you're getting on the UP express use the machine for it if your getting on a go train use the machine for it. It's simple if you can't figure it out or in too much of a rush then you're an idiot that needs to slow down and look before you tap.
 
EastYorkTTCFan said:
I don't see why this is a problem for people if you aren't looking where you are tapping your card you deserve to pay the wrong fare. If you're getting on the UP express use the machine for it if your getting on a go train use the machine for it. It's simple if you can't figure it out or in too much of a rush then you're an idiot that needs to slow down and look before you tap.
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What about people who are blind? What about people who are unfamiliar with the system? Having duplicate but separate tap stations for two trains using the same fare system at the same station operated by the same agency is transparent lunacy. UP is supposed to be for people who are using the airport and are probably unfamiliar with the city. Imagine going to a city elsewhere and getting screwed over this way because the fare system is poorly implemented to a Kafkaesque degree.
 
EastYorkTTCFan said:
I don't see why this is a problem for people if you aren't looking where you are tapping your card you deserve to pay the wrong fare. If you're getting on the UP express use the machine for it if your getting on a go train use the machine for it. It's simple if you can't figure it out or in too much of a rush then you're an idiot that needs to slow down and look before you tap.
Click to expand...

I've ridden transit all over the world, I use GO all the time and ride TTC/MiWay/Zoom and it still happened to me the first time i rode UP Express. They installed two readers on the same platform that looked identical to each other. They are the same size and shape, same tap face and they were pretty much painted to same colour (one was light purple/greyish vs light green'ish). I tapped the GO reader at Bloor station and tapped UPX at Pearson and was charged max fare. It took several calls to sort it out because if you phone UP Express lines, they can't actually do the refund, it's done through GO Transit, so you get transferred over and have to start the process again.
 
Bloor Station has paper notices taped to all the ticket machines (UP and GO) giving guidance on what machine to use for what. That strikes me as proof that it’s far from intuitively obvious. Can’t say that the extra help was all that definitive, either. As a fairly experienced user I still had to check myself to be certain that I had done it right.

- Paul
 
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