Typing this on UP after checking Raptors win on the free wifi. Walked out of International arrivals Sunday at 9pm, there's a manned booth right in front of me. The cheerful woman sold me a Presto, upsold me nicely on paying for the trip back now, gave great directions. Bit of a walk, then another staff member to show me where to tap. Third staff checked tickets on board.

Not busy, but not bad for Sunday night IMO. No one on or off at Weston, but one woman got on my car at Bloor.

Since I'm staying at the Royal York this trip, this is heaven.
 
I passed through the union station platform in my way from the convention centre at around 4 45 pm today and counted an incredible 15 people waiting for the train (from the looks of it, there were also a couple more upstairs). That might not sound like much, but I expected 2-4...
 
GeneralGrievance said:
I passed through the union station platform in my way from the convention centre at around 4 45 pm today and counted an incredible 15 people waiting for the train (from the looks of it, there were also a couple more upstairs). That might not sound like much, but I expected 2-4...
Click to expand...
I imagine that's around the start of the peak time for business trip departures. Business people here who had Monday meetings and are grabbing evening flights home. Not quite going to fill the seated capacity which is something like 145 per train.

I wonder if there's anyway to get the full dataset out of Metrolinx. They must have all sort of ridership data...basically the ridership of each train on each day. Would be very interesting to examine it to see when it's getting used and when it's running empty.
 
Napoleon said:
Not quite going to fill the seated capacity which is something like 145 per train.
Click to expand...
Metrolinx has reported the 3-car consist has 173 seats. As they seldom only run anything more than a 2-car consist, the seated capacity is closer to 115, depending on the configuration.
 
Okay, so I'm online trying to buy my ticket for the UPE for Wednesday morning. I can't see anywhere on the UPE site where I can buy and obtain the Presto discount.

If I must buy the Presto card at Union, how then I buy tickets online with the Presto discount in future?
 
My flight to the USA is at 8:40am on Thursday. What train should I catch? Can I get the Presto card before 6am at Union? I don't want to be dawdling around, so I'll want to get the card and get on the train asap.
 
Admiral Beez said:
My flight to the USA is at 8:40am on Thursday. What train should I catch? Can I get the Presto card before 6am at Union? I don't want to be dawdling around, so I'll want to get the card and get on the train asap.
Click to expand...
According to this page....the service counter is open at 5 a.m.

https://www.upexpress.com/SchedulesStations/UnionStation

My experience (was with a friend who bought one there) is that it takes about 5 minutes to buy a PrestoCard at the UP service desk.........so that is plenty of time to be able to get on any of the trains (including the first one at 5:30 a.m.

Which train should you take? What time would you normally like to be at the airport for a 8:40 transborder flight? Figure that out and subtract 1/2 hour from that and it will tell you what train you want.
 
I'm on the UPE right now, first time, and loving it. Great service at desk getting presto started, great Balzac coffee. Train is empty though, so I hope it makes money
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    1.1 MB · Views: 415
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    2.2 MB · Views: 264
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    1.1 MB · Views: 282
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    655 KB · Views: 266
Admiral Beez said:
I'm on the UPE right now, first time, and loving it. Great service at desk getting presto started, great Balzac coffee. Train is empty though, so I hope it makes money
Click to expand...
Your images say it all, both positive and negative. For your morning flight, one would think this would be a great time to use UPX to avoid any risk of traffic, and yet you appear to be the only passenger on the train. On the positive side, the train looks beautiful and it sounds like a very smooth experience.

If they would just experiment with the price point a bit, maybe they could fill the trains up!
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Typing this on UP after checking Raptors win on the free wifi. Walked out of International arrivals Sunday at 9pm, there's a manned booth right in front of me. The cheerful woman sold me a Presto, upsold me nicely on paying for the trip back now, gave great directions. Bit of a walk, then another staff member to show me where to tap. Third staff checked tickets on board.

Not busy, but not bad for Sunday night IMO. No one on or off at Weston, but one woman got on my car at Bloor.

Since I'm staying at the Royal York this trip, this is heaven.
Click to expand...

Follow on yesterday's return to Barbados: Took the 5:45am as I missed the 5:30am. About a dozen passengers, with 3-4 looking like they're working at the airport rather than catching a flight.

Out of the Royal York, across the lovely new Union street plaza, into Union and onto the train platform, tapping Presto, on board. Very nice.

Royal York has a ton of advertising for UP and the signage inside Union was very noticeable despite all the construction. They seem to have sorted that out nicely.

I think this is a great addition to Toronto's transportation grid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PL1
Filip said:
I once took the Heathrow Express. I was the only person in my coach.

London should definitely get rid of this train line!
Click to expand...
Ah, that's an interesting observation. I've only used Heathrow Express when the Picadilly line has been closed for track replacement. It certainly wasn't packed ... but I guess it would have been higher usage than normal.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top