Seamless mobility a growing travel trend
Canada joins the global club with Union-Pearson Express link
Toronto joins the ranks of many worldclass cities with this summer’s launch of the Union-Pearson (UP) Express link between the downtown core and Canada’s busiest airport.
Delivered on time for the Pan Am Games, as it was intended when plans were set in motion in 2010, the rail link is part of a broader transportation network connecting the 12.5 million people who live within a three-hour drive of Pearson International Airport.
And with nearly 90 per cent of that population still using cars to get to the airport, encouraging people from Windsor to Kingston to use public transit instead will take significant pressure off crowded highways, city streets and parking lots.
“We have to get those people out of cars where road conditions (traffic/gridlock) are an issue,” said Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, CEO of Via Rail, at a Global AirRail Alliance (GARA) conference in Toronto May 21.
“In the GTA alone congestion costs the economy between $3 and $5 billion a year because people are stuck in their cars,” he said, pointing out Via Rail is on a mission to get people out of their cars to ensure “there is a plan for our children, grand children and their grand children.”
That plan can only come to fruition by offering people “door-to-door seamless mobility” from where they live to wherever they are going.
Desjardins-Siciliano said competition between rail, bus and airlines has for decades prevented the development of an integrated, or intermodal system.
“If you look at Europe or anywhere else in the world it is to the contrary, so it’s great that we’re finally getting into the 21st century here in Canada,” he said.
It starts by making it easy for travellers, both domestic and international, to be able to use one-ticket pay systems, and enjoy seamless connections.
While UP Express is getting all the attention, Vancouver’s 19.2-kilometre Canada Line rapid transit train has linked its downtown core to Richmond and Vancouver International Airport since 2009.
“We’re hoping to be an inspiration to other airports in Canada, starting with Dorval Airport, where we are just strategizing as to how to make this vision come true for Montreal,” said Desjardins-Siciliano.
Via Rail’s partnership with UP Express is just one of many the Crown corporation has, including strategic ties with Access Rail, an alliance of railway companies that sells train tickets globally within its booking system for air travel.
Today more than 120,000 travel agencies worldwide issue Via Rail tickets through Access Rail.
Hainan Airlines, China’s largest pri- vately owned air carrier, now sells Via Rail tickets to customers before they visit Canada. It’s a major step in a system that lets travellers book all their connections on a single electronic pass.
Ideally, that would one day include all modes of travel, such as car sharing and renting, bus travel and even regional flights.
Linking airports with partners on the ground is a global trend, said Howard Eng, CEO of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, at the GARA conference. “Over the next 20 years, air travel will increase by double around the world,” Eng said. Forty million travellers are expected to pass through Pearson this year, a number that could reach 90 million by 2043, he predicted.
“No airport is ever a traveller’s final destination,” Eng said. “When you talk to people who view us as a worldclass city, they expect a high-end train (linking the city centre to the airport).
“Ground transportation is the key to success in the airport system and UP Express is the first leg.”
Regional airports must be included in planning a city’s ground transportation infrastructure, he added.
Kathy Haley, president of UP Express, described the far-reaching benefits the Union to Pearson link has for the hotel industry and the city’s attractions.
“It’s not only a system that would transfer people from downtown to the airport, but also elevate the experience of this great city by connecting travellers with all the hospitality Toronto has to offer,” Haley said.
Development of the UP Express was “the game changer,” as Desjardins-Siciliano put it, in implementing a seamless mobility network in Ontario. “Growth is coming and we are pleased to be part of that growth,” he added.
Via Rail’s intermodal network currently includes 20 transit and travel industry partners and that association is expected to grow.
“No airport is ever a traveller’s final destination. When you talk to people who view us as a world-class city, they expect a high-end train (linking the city centre to the airport).”
HOWARD ENG GREATER TORONTO AIRPORT AUTHORITY CEO