TTC vs car vs UPX - what’s the better way downtown Toronto?
On the first day of the UPX fare adjustment three Star reporters stepped out to see which transit option works best in terms of speed and affordability.

thestar.com
March 9, 2016
By Dan Taekema, Chris Reynolds and Sarah-Joyce Battersby

Every day Toronto’s commuters fight against traffic and time in the battle for affordable, convenient transit.

On Wednesday, a new option entered the fray. The Union Pearson Express dropped its fares from $27.50 to $12 - that’s $9 with a Presto card.

Before the change, taking the UPX didn’t make much sense for commuters, or leave many cents in their pockets, a fact reflected by low passenger numbers.

Just 2,200 people a day rode the train in December, a dismal stat considering projections stated the service needs at least 7,000 daily riders to break even.

Now the troubled trains, which cost an estimated $456 million, could see a rise in ridership as commuters take advantage of the new price.

On the first day of the fare adjustment three Star reporters stepped out to see which transit option works best in terms of speed and affordability from the corner of Jane St. and Lawrence Ave. to Union Station.

Chris Reynolds slid behind the wheel of a Star sedan and hit the streets with the masses.

Sarah-Joyce Battersby - and her coffee - braved the TTC, taking the bus and subway.

Dan Taekema took the UPX along with an influx of new passengers who were curious about the train’s possibilities.

Read on to see how they fared.

Road warrior

Star reporter Chris Reynolds made the journey by car, beating the TTC trip by one minute.

Mode: Car

Price: 27.32, including estimated gas cost for an 18 km journey and $25 for day parking (amortization and insurance costs excluded).

Time: 51 minutes (including parking).

The journey (from Jane St. and Lawrence Ave. W. to Union Station):

A smooth ride doesn’t mean a quick one.

While no fender-benders plagued the route from Weston, the usual hang-ups - congestion, bottlenecking, the anti-left-turn-signal gang - conspired to clog what would have been a 25-minute journey just an hour earlier.

But that’s rush hour in motorized Toronto.

Brigades of car commuters lurched southwest as Weston’s brown-brick storefronts gave way to the tree-lined artery of Black Creek Dr. around 8:10 a.m. Continuing on Weston Rd. and then Keele St., I felt first-hand the implications of Tim Hortons’ mass appeal: its drive-thru worshippers logjammed entire lanes as drivers queued up to ward off sleep demons and caffeine withdrawal.

Bottlenecks near St. Clair Ave. and Bloor St. might also have been averted by adopting the damn-the-torpedoes approach of the Aston Martin in front of me.

I passed High Park and merged onto Lake Shore Blvd. around 8:35 a.m., raising the curtain on heavy traffic. In so doing I committed heresy, disobeying Google Maps’ instructions to hit the Gardiner Expressway.

Slow-rolling sedans and trucks accordioned through to Bay St., with bumper-to-bumper density peaking near Jameson Ave. as well as Spadina Ave.

The highest cost of driving to work - aside from the psychological toll of battling your fellow human beings for asphalt - can be parking. A typical day rate - 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. - registers around $25 in the vicinity of Union Station.

Is the day just starting?

The cheaper way

Sarah-Joyce Battersby braved the cheapest option, taking the bus and the subway.

Mode: TTC

Price: $2.90 (1 token)

Travel time: 52 minutes

The journey (from Jane St. and Lawrence Ave. W. to Union Station):

I thought I made a mistake buying a coffee before setting out.

An overly-reverent coffee drinker with a routine, I usually wait until I’m at my desk for the first cup, but with a long commute ahead I needed some utility caffeine.

Coffee in hand, my journey began with a mad dash against a pedestrian crossing countdown. (Watching a bus pass after hesitating at a crosswalk ranks with TTC frustrations like charging down the wet stairs at breakneck speed at the sound of a subway, only to discover it’s going the other way.)

Running was the right decision; the 52 Lawrence West bus pulled up right away. I considered ditching the coffee as the prospect of a crowded bus with only one free hand dawned on me. If it wasn’t Roll Up the Rim season I might have.

I was the last to squeeze on, but the driver Miguel (who declined to give his last name) told me later he was just one in a long line of buses.

This is the “crazy time,” he said, counselling patience and a smile.

It was standing-room only. About half the passengers were school-aged kids with backpacks and tired eyes.

I spotted fellow reporter Chris Reynolds in a sedan, turning south on wide-open Black Creek Dr. as the bus bumped east. Two streets later, the packed bus passed a crowded Culford Rd. stop without stopping.

The bus arrived at Lawrence West station in 23 minutes.

The subway pulled into the station before I could even finish asking a woman if she would ever take the UPX instead of the TTC. I boarded, found a free pole to hang onto and finally opened my coffee. It was cold.

The subway was standing-room only all the way to Union, and the space between standers squeezed smaller the farther we travelled downtown. But the ride was relatively smooth with just a slight slowdown around St. Clair West.

By the time the subway screeched into Union, I was done my coffee.

On the bright side, I rolled up the rim for a prize. So for less than the price of a UPX ride I got two coffees and a trip downtown in under an hour. I call that a win.

The fast track

Dan Taekema tried out the UPX along with other commuters taking advantage of the new price.

Mode: Union Pearson Express

Price: $5.65 ($5.02 for Presto users)

Time: 34 minutes

The journey (from Jane St. and Lawrence Ave. W. to Union Station):

It turns out the toughest part of taking the train was deciding what to do with a car.

As Star photographer Bernard Weil and I raced to Weston Station to board the Union Pearson Express (UPX) we hit a snag almost immediately - the parking lot at the station was packed.

After two laps and some mild cursing we managed to squeeze into a tight spot and were back on track.

We bought our tickets at an automated teller and race-walked up the ramp to the station platform only to find we had seven minutes to wait until the next train.

As we stood around, we spoke to passengers and found a combination of first-time users and others who had taken the train infrequently because of the cost.

All were excited about the price change and figured they’d be using UPX as a consistent commuting option now. As the train pulled in more would-be riders trickled up the ramp and into the quiet, comfortable cars.

The rush and crush to board the train was remarkably non-existent. Compared to the often cramped subway, the UPX cars were about two-thirds full of customers who casually walked on and began reading newspapers, tuning into their tablets and just looking out the window as the world rolled by.

A staff member dressed in a forest green uniform reminiscent of a flight attendant, winged insignia and all, checked our tickets and the train took off.

As I moved around the gently rocking cabin and spoke with my fellow passengers I was told the train was busier than usual, but compared to the crowded GO Train, the ride was sleek and comfortable.

After a brief stop at Bloor the UPX sailed on and before I knew it the final stop was being announced.

I got off at Union and walked out into the sunshine.

Bernard went back for the car.