Launched at $27.50 one-way, ridership bottomed out within a year

UP Express

The Union Pearson Express opened in 2015 as one of the most expensive airport rail links in North America — and it showed, in ridership numbers that fell for months until Metrolinx slashed the fare in 2016.

A Union Pearson Express train at Weston Station, Toronto — UP Express at Weston Station, Toronto — Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons licensed

The Union Pearson Express opened June 6, 2015, timed just ahead of that summer's Pan Am Games. It launched as one of the most expensive airport rail links in North America, charging $27.50 one-way in cash. Metrolinx had set a target of 5,000 riders per day within the first year; ridership instead stalled well below that, dropping to an all-time low of about 1,967 average daily riders by January 2016.

The fare cut that turned it around

Facing sustained criticism over pricing, Metrolinx shook up UPX management and, effective March 9, 2016, slashed fares dramatically: the full Union–Pearson trip dropped from $27.50 to $12 cash. Ridership grew substantially afterward, and the line has since become a far more normal part of the city's transit options rather than the expensive outlier it launched as.

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