Visited someone yesterday who lives close to Dundas West Station. Never ridden the UP express before, so I opted to take the UP train over the subway or GO back to Union.
Nice train, quick to downtown. If you're someone who lives near Bloor GO why would you take anything else to downtown?

$5.02 when I tapped on at Bloor GO, and deducted $0.31 when I tapped off at Union. Automatically overrided my default trip between Oakville - Union.
 
Bojaxs said:
Visited someone yesterday who lives close to Dundas West Station. Never ridden the UP express before, so I opted to take the UP train over the subway or GO back to Union.
Nice train, quick to downtown. If you're someone who lives near Bloor GO why would you take anything else to downtown?

$5.02 when I tapped on at Bloor GO, and deducted $0.31 when I tapped off at Union. Automatically overrided my default trip between Oakville - Union.
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I took it for the first time as well about a week and a half ago. It was sooo quick. The only thing was that there is no pedestrian concourse to Dundas West, but thankfully that is being built.
 
Bojaxs said:
If you're someone who lives near Bloor GO why would you take anything else to downtown?
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I try to take GO instead of UP if I'm transferring to another GO train. Amazingly, there's usually only a ~10 minute layover to catch the Lakeshore W to Hamilton when I do this. Shorter transfer distance, and it saves money, as I'm not paying a separate UP fare. You can also take bikes on GO (well, sometimes....current e-bike overcrowding on the Kitchener line...)

Also depends on the definition of "downtown". Sometimes it's faster / more convenient to take the subway, if it would otherwise mean a long walk from Union.
 
vic said:
I try to take GO instead of UP if I'm transferring to another GO train. Amazingly, there's usually only a ~10 minute layover to catch the Lakeshore W to Hamilton when I do this. Shorter transfer distance, and it saves money, as I'm not paying a separate UP fare. You can also take bikes on GO (well, sometimes....current e-bike overcrowding on the Kitchener line...)

Also depends on the definition of "downtown". Sometimes it's faster / more convenient to take the subway, if it would otherwise mean a long walk from Union.
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Yeah, for clarification, by "downtown" I meant Union Station.
 
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Other than frequency, level boarding, and Pearson connection, is there anything UP Express trains have over GO trains on Kitchener line for commuting or as rapid transit? Do they have better acceleration and max speed for closer stop spacing from DMU vs locomotive and shorter length? Do they have different priority when it comes to signalling?
 
Leo_Chan said:
Other than frequency, level boarding, and Pearson connection, is there anything UP Express trains have over GO trains on Kitchener line for commuting or as rapid transit? Do they have better acceleration and max speed for closer stop spacing from DMU vs locomotive and shorter length? Do they have different priority when it comes to signalling?
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UP Express trains take 8 minutes Union to Bloor vs 10-12 minutes for GO. I'm not sure that difference is all that noticeable to the customer, although GO may have to creep out of the depot where UP seems to get a more direct routing. Both take 6 minutes Bloor to Weston.

But - UP Express leave from the same platform every time, every day. Kitchener trains are somewhat consistent as to platform, but people don't know for sure until they look at the departure boards, and then they may have to look for the right platform. Also Kitchener trains don't line up to every gate, ie may be parked way down the platform.....whereas UP express cars line right up to the doorway every time.

You still have to look carefully as to which Presto machine you tap on/off at. I got dinged last week by tapping on to a GO machine at Union but tapping off on a UP machine at Bloor. It charged me as a tap-on to UP at Bloor and I paid the full airport fare, even though my next tap on was a couple minutes later at TTC Dundas West. My bad.

- Paul
 
Leo_Chan said:
Other than frequency, level boarding, and Pearson connection, is there anything UP Express trains have over GO trains on Kitchener line for commuting or as rapid transit? Do they have better acceleration and max speed for closer stop spacing from DMU vs locomotive and shorter length? Do they have different priority when it comes to signalling?
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"Other than frequency, level boarding, and Pearson connection," what have the Romans ever done for us?
 
nfitz said:
Really, they need to increase fares, so people have a lower chance of missing their flights.
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Wasn't that one of the big complaints about the UP express when it first open? The expensive fares. Metrolinx had to lower them in order to entice people onto the trains.

EDIT: Video from 8 years ago.
 
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Yes. But they lowered them a bit too far - leaving very little between UP and GO fares, so it doesn't encourage people to take GO instead.

Though now that they get free transfers on GO, but not on UP, then that might help change things for those not going to the airport.
 
nfitz said:
Yes. But they lowered them a bit too far - leaving very little between UP and GO fares, so it doesn't encourage people to take GO instead.

Though now that they get free transfers on GO, but not on UP, then that might help change things for those not going to the airport.
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When I got to Bloor GO station the UP express was arriving in 4 minutes, where as the next GO train was 30 minutes. I'm sure if GO on the Kitchener line had frequency to match that of UP's there would probably be less people on the UP. You wouldn't have to mess around with the fares.
 
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DSC said:
I think it's a combination of the grade and the curve and is a (possibly unavoidable) 'design flaw'. I agree it would be hard to go much slower and still move :->
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It seems like corners were cut with that spur's design and construction. Possibly cause there was a deadline to finish before the PanAm games.
 
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