Connecting to and from airport can be a pain… and Toronto Airport is one of those pains. In the past, you either had to pay for a coach – which took 30 minutes+ from the airport to downtown (with a grumpy driver normally), or the bus and the Toronto Subway (which took an hour plus to get anywhere).
Well, there’s a new option – the Union Person Express (or the UP Express), connecting Toronto Pearson Airport, Weston, Bloor and finally Toronto Union Station, taking 25 minutes from the airport to Union station.
Firstly, lets get the first ugly thing out of the way – and that’s the trains to be used on the service
“Union Pearson Express DMU 1010” by 분당선M – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Ok people. When will trains in North America learn to look at least remotely pretty? This thing looks – well, plain ugly if I’m bluntly honest.
The UP Express operate their trains as a mixture of 4 three-car units and 3 two-car units, to operate a 15 minute frequency.
So, this is all well and good – but how much is it going to cost? Well, prepare to dig deep as fares start at C$27.50 for a single, or C$53 return.
In terms of expense, this is pretty high in costs (compared to other North America to downtown solutions).
For comparison:
- Vancouver YVR to Downtown (Train) C$9
- Montreal to Downtown Bus 747 (Bus) C$10
- Chicago O’Hare to Downtown – US$5
- San Francisco Airport to downtown – US$8.65
- JFK to Penn Station – $7.25 or $10 + $6 for Airtrain
So, lets not beat about the bush – its expensive. Not as bad as the Heathrow Express, but getting there. Some of the fare can be mitigated by purchasing with a Presto card (A smart fare card), with a C$8.50 saving.
A Presto card is available at the airport for C$6 (giving a total of C$2.5o saved), which will allow use of most local transit as well – well except Toronto Transit Commission which is still implementing Presto – with some subway and trams taking the card (the rest of the time – it’s Tokens or Cash). Other regional transit agencies also accept Presto too.
It’s a start, but the price does need to come down a fair chunk. For those on a budget still, Bus 192 and Toronto Subway it’s still C$3.00 (or $2.80 if you’ve brought some tokens).
Still for those who haven’t got time, The Union Pearson Express offers a useful link between Toronto Pearson Airport and the heart of Toronto.
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The UP is enjoying the benefits of the Pythagorean Theorem, eh.
Straight shot rather than the two legs along the highway to Pearson. Saves a good 15 minutes on a traffic free day.
Look forward to trying this new transit option for Canadians.
Pricing is pretty steep. But since all Torontonians think their city is the center of the universe, I guess that justifies the cost. Well, that and bloated union and wage costs, kickbacks to politicians, and the list goes on.
Hope their taxes went up to pay for this.