Advocacy group wants UP Express train fares lowered

After travelling thousands of kilometres across the Pacific Ocean from a manufacturing plant in Japan, the new Union Pearson Express train has arrived in Toronto (Photo courtesy James Gardiner)

A Toronto public transit advocacy group wants the Union-Pearson Express train fares lowered so that they are more in line with TTC ticket prices, but Ontario's minister of transportation says it's still too early to consider making those types of changes.

Members of the group TTCriders attended a town hall meeting Wednesday night to voice their concerns over the new rail link. The UP Express train officially opened last month, shuttling commuters between downtown Toronto and Pearson International Airport.

A one-way adult fare costs $27.50 or $19 with a Presto transit card – prices that should be lowered, the group argued. The group also claims the train is running at below capacity. They say based on their informal observations, the UP Express train is running at eight per cent capacity, averaging 14 riders per train. Each train can carry 173 people.

"The Union-Pearson train doesn't have the ridership that it's meant to and even if it meets projected ridership numbers that Metrolinx wants, it's still going to be 2/3 empty," TTCriders executive director Jessica Bell told CTV Toronto on Wednesday.

But according to the province's Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca, not only is it too early to consider changing fare prices, but the UP Express train is meeting its targeted ridership.

"At the end of the day, it's a service that has been running for less than two months. It started on June 6," Del Duca said. "It's actually hitting the projected ridership numbers that we anticipated."

Last month, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said 190 million travellers are expected to ride the UP Express by 2031.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Ben Mercer