Friday, April 1, 2016

Does the airport train really need to continue as a separate service? Now that it's less than $5 to ride for Toronto folks?

Isn't it now just a fancy GO train? For Toronto commuters.

A one-way ride using Presto from Bloor Station in Toronto's west end to Union Station costs only $4.71. A TTC subway ride is $3.25.

But you get so much more from the UP Express. Luggage racks. Charging stations. Roomy seats. Speed. And an added bonus, it's hardly ever crowded.

With the release of the president from her contract and talks of rolling the UP Express into GO Transit's portfolio, can we expect the same frills on all the other GO trains as those who ride the UP Express (kindly subsidized by the fares of those who of us who ride the furthest)?

Do we get lounges? A gift shop?

Here's hoping what is now a high-end GO train service that currently only services none of GO Transit's customers actually gets extended to Georgetown, so a part of GO's customer base can enjoy its perks.

Change its name. Disband the UP Express division. Get rid of the website. Call it what it is - GO Transit. If you want to market it as GO Transit's airport service, go ahead, but all the money that was spent to design this as a premium service, despite all the studies that pointed out it didn't have to be one, should have never been spent in the first place. And it most certainly did not need its own president.

The fancy ticket collectors can stay. Just make sure the rest of us eventually get all the same toys.

I'm insulted. Aren't you?

1 comment:

  1. Yolanda B CoolApril 1, 2016 at 9:39 AM

    It's mildly insulting that Toronto passengers paying almost the same fare as those who board from Exhibition and Mimico don't get the same luxury. I'm sure John Tory will fix that.

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