The executive in charge of the under-used Union Pearson Express (UPX) is defending the $456-million airport train but admits to being disappointed by the number of “early adopters.”

Stressing that the airport train was on time and on budget, UPX president Kathy Haley conceded that price is a factor in the lagging ridership numbers. But it’s not the only issue, she said.

She did not realize “how deeply entrenched” those air travellers’ behaviours were, Haley said following a Wednesday Metrolinx board meeting.

At that meeting Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca called the fare discussion “extremely important.”

“We have more work to do. Ridership numbers are not where we want them to be,” he told reporters.

UPX ridership hit a low of 65,593 in November, down by more than 13,000 passengers from the October high of 79,000. It will take about 7,000 riders a day for UPX to break even, something Metrolinx was targeting within three years of the launch. There were about 2,200 per day in December.

Haley cautioned that month-over-month growth isn’t realistic because UPX passenger levels follow air travel patterns.

November is the slowest month of the year for air travel. It picks up in December, but most of the leisure travellers heading to Toronto are going to the outskirts of the city, not necessarily downtown. That’s different in the summer, when there are more tourists, Haley said.

People who use the train love it, but getting them to buy a ticket is a challenge, she said, adding that she understands why there’s a call to re-purpose it as public transit.

“There is such a thirst for transit in Toronto that they want this to be a panacea for all transit woes, and we were never intended to do that,” she said.

An adult fare is $19 with a Presto card or $27.50 without one.

To entice more people aboard, Metrolinx is offering free rides this Family Day/Valentine’s weekend.

While price is one issue, Haley said there are other challenges.

Seventy per cent of air travellers have already decided how they will get to the airport based on previous experience, and 26 per cent have the decision made for them by an assistant, a spouse or companion, she said.

“People don’t want to walk that far (to the UPX terminal at Union Station) from their hotels and condos, even in the downtown area,” she said.

And Toronto isn’t like other markets that Metrolinx studied in advance of the UPX launch.

“What we’re learning is it’s easier for people in Europe to shift from rail to rail. We’re clearly more car-centred,” said Haley, who joined Metrolinx in 2011 with a background in marketing.

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“Part of our value proposition is to experience what the city has to offer,” she said, referring to this weekend’s NBA All-Star program and the recent Blue Jays playoffs.

At the same time, Metrolinx has to protect the integrity of the service that was designed for business travellers, including flight check-ins, Wi-Fi, luggage facilities and other amenities, Haley said.

Metrolinx will tweak the prices and work to increase awareness of the service, CEO Bruce McCuaig said at the provincial agency’s board meeting.

“We’re going to be looking at pricing strategies. That includes promotions and discounts, but it also includes the whole range of how we’re positioning the service in the marketplace,” he said.

Any price adjustments must be approved by the Metrolinx board, but a special meeting is possible before the next quarterly date, said chair Rob Prichard.

“To make it a useful piece of public transit service, the (UPX) should be a TTC fare at least from Weston down. Maybe there’s a premium for people to pay for going to the airport, as in other cities in the world, but we’ve spent $1 billion on this infrastructure,” said former NDP MP Mike Sullivan, who has been advocating for transit in his Weston community.

He considers the cost of expanding the track for the train along the Kitchener GO line, as well as the spur into the airport and other costs, to be part of the UPX cost.

“If we’re going to spend that much money on transit it should be useful to everybody in the city, not just a handful — literally six people — every time the train runs,” he said.

“It would need an $80 fare to pay back the province for the capital investment,” said Sullivan.

UPX trains seat 173 people, compared with a GO train that can carry about 1,800. The airport train takes 25 minutes to travel between the airport and Union Station, with two 30-second stops at Weston and Bloor St. Trains run every 15 minutes in both directions.

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