Just rode it (free ticket) tonight at midnight, with my kids
YYZ - Weston (elevator down, walk to the other side, go up to Track 3) - back to YYZ

I liked the overall feeling, very clean, staff (MANY of them) are friendly & kind
I notice each train has a Female staff? wearing a cute hat/cap

Only got checked ticket on YYZ-Weston
Trains are a bit bumpy/shaky
Seats have AC outlets besides them
Big luggage racks
SUPER BIG handicap-accessible washroom (like the ones in Europe trains) with diaper change table
LCD Screens inside, not sure if it shows the STATION name though
Didn't get a paper train though @@

I took it all the way from Union to YYZ and back. The only part I found bumpy was a small stretch between YYZ-Weston

Ha, that's the only part I rode

Good to hear other parts are smooth

Wow, when did YYZ get a T2?! I would certainly say "Connecting to Terminal 2" is quite priceless!!!

Also took advantage of the comp ride, and a couple of free beers from Mill Street and Union before and after...

Very pleasant ride (smooth except for the first bit out of Union to about King Street) and it is certainly a fast way to get out to T1. Trains are spacious and seating comfortable as advertised. Seemed to be a fair number of arriving and departing people with luggage using the train today. The price didn’t seem to be a deterrent to those riders. The Union Station platform is airy and spacious, coffee bar (Balzac) and a Mill Street pub along side. Lots of staff on hand at both ends, and on the trains, though this is likely not to be the case on normal days...otherwise they're way overstaffed!

The YYZ platform runs north of the inter-terminal train….there’s an inclined walkway from the end of that platform up to the UPX area. Nice views from the elevated tracks leaving and arriving YYZ. Tickets can be bought online and either printed on captured on a smart phone or tablet like a boarding pass. Using a Presto card you tap it on one of the units by the platform entry. On the train, an attendant will scan the card to see if it was tapped. (Attendant also scans paper or mobile ticket.) On leaving the platform at the other end, you tap the card on a Presto unit. Lots of ticketing machines at both ends, a staffed ticketing/help desk at Union, Presto units at both entry/exit points.

I live city centre, about a 20-minute walk to Union station. Will use it if I have early morning flights, particularly on Sundays since the subway doesn’t run until 9a (first UPX train is 5:30a), and when I get in really late at night to get home quickly (last train from YYZ 1a). However, the TTC is still more convenient and a lot cheaper. Generally takes me a bit over an hour from hopping my local bus or streetcar to the subway, get to Kipling and onto the 192.

I can see heavy use in bad weather and during rush hour periods when even expense account types can make it to/from YYZ without the hassle of a limo crawling through traffic, and if within the city they can use the PATH system to get to offices or hotels.

Like AC, PD and now YYZ, there is also a UPX magazine designed by the folks who did the PD one -- and similar to the AC YYZ-YUL mini-mag and the new YYZ one -- and handled the overall design elements for the UPX, Winnipeg expat Tyler Broul�'s WINKEATIVE (Monocle, Wallpaper). PD even ran a "welcome" ad in the Toronto dailies yesterday.

Station at Bloor and Weston are not finished yet and it looks like it will be at least another year before there's a weather-protected walkway between the Bloor station and the Dundas West subway station. This is a huge oversight since the entire purpose of the Bloor station was to provide an easy/fast connection between the two systems. And the Mill Street lounge upstairs overlookng the Union platform is still not finished. Though question who'd want to spend an hour in the lounge if the whole point is getting to YYZ quickly? (Maybe if you're waiting for friends at Union instead of going out to the airport to meet them?)

I suppose time will tell how many riders will be taking the train, though with no dedicated airport bus to downtown any longer, there'll be a few hundred at day. Check back in 6 months' time.

From the Toronto Star:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015...he-public.html

so if the first train is supposed to start from Union at 5:30 am, then why when I showed up at 5:12am today, did it say next train in 33 minutes.

if you are going to advertise something, make sure it is right. GO may have gotten away with operating with a schedule that really did not mean much, but this is an airport train that should run on time, all the time.

also, why have your cafe open at exactly the same time as the first departure. how can someone get a coffee for the 5:30 train if you say you don't open until 5:30.....

15 minutes may seem like nothing in the am but when you are on a 7am flight, 15 minutes actually means a lot.

Three people took three different routes to the airport one morning: car, UPX and TTC. The longest and most expensive route was UPX!

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015...etter-way.html

Granted, leaving from Riverdale does put UPX at a disadvantage. A fairer test would have been to leave from the core, which is the target market for this service.

Bias by thestar...never.

The 80 min UPX doesn't add up.

20 min in taxi due to traffic
15 min wait on UPX platform (trains run every 15)
25 min to Pearson (say another 5 to get to meeting point)
where are the other 15min? walk to UPX platform, or was taxi >35 min? If so, she could have taken streetcar to Broadview and gone around in 30 min (and saved vs taxi). Also, she must have just missed the train as they run every 15 supposedly.

Finally, she could have saved by having a Presto card, but guess that did not fit the narrative of the story.

Really, it's the Toronto Star. Don't try to apply logic or your head will explode.

A couple of minutes to hail a cab

More than 20 mins in the cab according to the article - say 25.

If she got dropped off at Union station (main concourse area) add another 5 minutes walk to where the UPX is

Purchasing a ticket, say another 3 mins

There's the 15, quite easily.

I can see the first two, though its not like broadview is a small street without traffic. As for not knowing where to go, a quick check on map would help and hopefully no more than a minute to buy....and again having a Presto card would save time. It would be like including time to buy one token for the ttc.

Still, I would taken streetcar/subway heading into DT core given traffic is always congested.

That's why I enjoyed taking both the Heathrow Express and the Gatwick Express in London. Each end of the individual cars had a section for wheeled luggage.

I don't think anyone would suggest a local person, living far from downtown, take the UP Express. But when my s.o. came to visit Toronto, we stayed at Trump downtown, and for him, 25 minutes from Pearson to Union for $19 is way better value than a taxi.

It's also much more convenient than the TTC, especially for someone who doesn't know the city, and who just came off an exhausting flight.

absolutely agree.