Metrolinx says ridership for the new $456 million Union Pearson Express (UPX) train is right on target, averaging 3,250 passengers a day. But a transit advocacy group has its doubts.

TTCriders says the trains are running virtually empty — and says that’s all the more reason to turn the airport train into public transit rather than continue marketing it to travellers and business people.

"For us, the real issue is we don't need a line that is for jetsetters and people who can afford to spend $27.50 to get on. We need this line to be useful for everyone in this city, and that means doing the right thing, leaving a real Pan Am legacy and turning it into a proper transit line," said TTCriders spokeswoman Jessica Bell.

TTCriders says it counted the riders going in and out of the Pearson UPX station on Thursday between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m., in the midst of the Pan Am Games. It found just 14 people on average rode on each train, which can seat 173.

The Metrolinx average number amounts to an average 21 riders per train on the 156 runs the UPX makes in both directions about 19 hours a day.

"That means approximately five out of six seats on the UPX train are empty when only two cars are used and seven out of eight seats are empty on the three-car trains," according to TTCriders.

"What was really shocking was, even using Metrolinx's own numbers of 3,250 people a day, that translates to the train running at just 12 per cent of full capacity," she said.

The trains run 156 times a day in both directions — about every 15 minutes. It's a 25-minute trip, with two stops between Union Station and Pearson airport.

Metrolinx says the UPX is busiest on Sundays and between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

"Like other direct air-rail links, UP volume is directly tied to flight volumes," said the provincial agency's spokeswoman, Anne Marie Aikins.

"For a service that operates 19 and a half hours every day of the week — a two-hour window on one day, at only one of our stations, is not an accurate sample of the average ridership for UP," she said.

Bell said the morning count was done deliberately because that's the time when people are trying to move about the city.

"We wanted to choose a time where we know the TTC is really busy and people want to get to work and get around. So we thought rush hour was a reasonable time to choose," she said.

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Metrolinx expects that UPX ridership will grow to about 5,000 passengers a day in about a year.

"We will be electrifying the UPX as part of the province’s $13.5-billion regional express rail plan, which includes phasing out diesel trains and phasing in electric trains across the GO network, including the Kitchener Line from Bramalea to Union Station," said Aikins.

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