Union-Pearson Express train to cost $27.50 for one-way fare

The Union Pearson Express pulls into terminal one at Pearson International Airport, in Toronto, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014.

TORONTO -- Travellers using a high-speed rail link between Toronto's Union Station and Pearson International Airport will pay $27.50 for a single fare.

The Union Pearson Express is set to open in the next few months and today executives joined Premier Kathleen Wynne in unveiling the fares.

People with a PRESTO card -- a multi-transit system fare card -- will pay a one-way fare of $19 and there will be discounts for seniors, students, families, children and airport employees, as well as for people who board at mid-points linked to Toronto's subway system.

Progressive Conservative transportation critic Michael Harris said the high fare risks turning off potential riders.

"Vancouver and Chicago are able to offer airport links for under $10 dollars and yet the Wynne Liberals expect travellers to spend three times that," Harris said in a statement.

"At the unaffordable price-point government has announced, I predict empty trains, further traffic congestion and dwindling returns from the 'ghost-train express' to Pearson."

NDP urban transit critic Cheri DiNovo said the public has been clear that the train line should not be "an exclusive boutique service for business travellers."

"Today's announcement that the fare for one way is to be $27.50 is not affordable for most Toronto residents, making the line inaccessible for those who need it the most," she said in a statement.

The trains are set to run every 15 minutes and the trip will take 25 minutes from Union to Pearson.

Wynne says the train service will be up and running in time for next summer's 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games.

Wynne says travellers to Toronto have been surprised to learn upon arrival that such a service did not already exist, and now she says it will finally open with the project on time and on budget.