[URBAN NOTE] On the travails of Toronto's Union-Pearson Express

[rfmcdonald]

The Union-Pearson Express has been getting quite a lot of attention in the last few days, especially as ridership statistics have come out. It has been subjected to a very critical editorial in The Globe and Mail: "A product of political imperatives, it was powered by political choices, not a careful analysis of where the greatest number of underserved commuters are, and what would be the most cost-effective way of serving them." That paper's Adrian Morrow has noted that no less a person than premier Kathleen Wynne has talked about the need for a redesign, perhaps to make it a commuter route of some sort.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says the province will look at lowering fares on Toronto’s struggling airport express train and turning it into a commuter line in a bid to boost ridership.

[. . .]

“There actually is a Metrolinx board meeting … and looking at the fare structure is something they’ve said they are going to do,” the Premier told reporters Monday. “I expect there will be a reassessment of not just [the fares] but some of the other issues around UP Express.”

One possibility is to encourage more daily commuters to use the train, rather than focusing primarily on business-class air travellers. The train currently makes two intermediate stops in the west end, at Weston Road and Dundas Street West.

“It wasn’t designed for [commuters], but there are two stops, there is Dundas West and there is the Weston stop, so there is the possibility for it to be used in some partial way for getting downtown,” Ms. Wynne said. “That’s what Metrolinx has to look at. They have to look at all of the options and figure out how to get more people, I mean, that’s the bottom line: How do we get more people riding the UP Express? That is self-evident that that needs to happen.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/2016/02/10/upx-chief-laments-lack-of-early-adapters.html

The Toronto Star's Tess Kalinowski notes that Kathy Haley, executive in charge of the Union Pearson Express, is defending the line against the apparent overestimation of usage.

Stressing that the airport train was on time and on budget, UPX president Kathy Haley conceded that price is a factor in the lagging ridership numbers. But it’s not the only issue, she said.

She did not realize “how deeply entrenched” those air travellers’ behaviours were, Haley said following a Wednesday Metrolinx board meeting.

[. . .]

UPX ridership hit a low of 65,593 in November, down by more than 13,000 passengers from the October high of 79,000. It will take about 7,000 riders a day for UPX to break even, something Metrolinx was targeting within three years of the launch. There were about 2,200 per day in December.

This may be why Metrolinx, as I saw on Transit Toronto, will be offering free rides on this weekend coming, from the 13th to the 15th. I'll be riding it: I am curious to see what the experience will be like.