Metrolinx is set to slash the cost to ride Toronto’s airport train to under $20, The Globe and Mail has learned, and make it cheaper than a TTC express bus to ride within the city.
According to a plan being finalized by the regional transit agency, the under-used train to the airport will get much more affordable, with the province accepting that the “premium” business model has not been working.
The base fare – the full cost of riding without a Presto card or any of the discounts – is now $27.50. Multiple sources say that that will drop substantially, taking a ride on the Union Pearson Express (UPX) below the psychological barrier of $20.
There will also be much lower fares for passengers hoping to travel between the train’s three stations in the city, a bid to make it more attractive to commuters. Sources say that people would be able to ride the train from Union station to Bloor west or Weston for the equivalent of GO rail fares, which would mean the price dropping to under $6 from around $11 to $15. The Toronto Transit Commission cash fare is $3.25 – or $2.90 if buying tokens – and they charge double for their express buses.
The new fares are subject to approval by the board of Metrolinx, which will hold a special meeting Tuesday evening. With pressure from Queen’s Park to get more people on the train, they are not expected to push back.
Low ridership on the UPX has become an increasing political headache for the Ontario Liberals. They insisted on building the train after the private sector decided its prospects didn’t look good enough and have faced fierce criticism since it started running last June.
The province retained the private sector’s vision of a high-end train that would pay its day-to-day costs from the fare box. To break even the train would need to carry about 7,000 people per day. Based on projections before the launch, Metrolinx believed that would take three to five years. Public take-up has been slow, though, and the train has been bleeding money since it launched.
For months Metrolinx has insisted that price was not holding back ridership on the UPX. But after limited rises in the early months, ridership turned around and dropped in November and December, prompted concerns at the agency and at Queen’s Park. A flurry of specials offers began to appear.
A promotion allowing people to do a return trip for the price of a one-way fare was used 10,000 times by 19-January, according to Metrolinx, the last date for which figures are publicly available. And an event last weekend offering free rides highlighted how much latent interest there was.
After averaging only about 2,220 people per day in December, the train carried around 40,000 people over the course of the Family Day three-day weekend. Some people lined up for hours to ride the train. It was not clear, though, how many of the total were airport travellers and how many were merely curious. A Metrolinx official said that travellers, who were able to jump the queue, formed the majority during what are normally their peak travel times of the day.
The train cost $456-million to build and was promised as part of the city’s successful bid for the Pan Am Games.
These games were touted, in the lead up, as fundamental to the train’s early success. A report from consultants Steer Davies Gleave called their first-year projections “conservative given the Pan-Am Games in July 2015, just three months after opening.” The games were projected to add 4,000 passengers per day to the regular ridership. The hoped-for boost that didn’t materialize, with the train carrying a total average of about 2,500 a day during that period.
The Globe And Mail
