Union-Pearson Express: No To Two-Tiered Transit

When the news leaked out that Metrolinx had been planning to charge over $25 for a trip on the new Union-Pearson express train, airport workers and public transit users were outraged. And when a spokesperson from the provincial-appointed transit agency referred to the planned line as “a boutique service for businesspeople going to the airport”, people got organized.

For workers trying to get to work at the airport, or ordinary transit users who want to get to or from the airport, this is ridiculous, and is – in the words of the Toronto Airport Council of Unions, representing over 20,000 workers at Pearson – nothing less than Two-Tiered Transit.

The union council, the Clean Train Coalition (which has been waging a challenge over the past few years), the TTCriders and the Free and Accessible Transit Campaign, are building a larger movement to lower the fares, support the electrification of the train, and argue for greater integration of the UP Express into the public transit network, making it accessible to thousands who need it.

People from TTCriders and the airport council attended the recent Metrolinx meeting to demand that the concerns of airport workers and transit users be respected (as well as the general sense among the general public that this is unacceptable.) They also demanded that Metrolinx hold public consulations with airport workers and west-end Toronto residents before their December 11th meeting, where the issue of fares is set to be decided.

In an unusual show of agreement, the Toronto City Council called on the unelected Metrolinx board to lower the fares for the U-P service to the level of the current GO train ($6.00 a pop).

A leaflet from the Toronto Airport Council noted:

Clearly Metrolinx has botched this file and its refusal to even disclose its pricing, furthers our concern that their agenda is not a public one.

It’s time to derail Metrolinx’s caviar dreams and turn this public investment into a rail link that benefits us all!

Herman Rosenfeld

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