Currently logged onto the free WiFi while taking the Union Pearson Express ("UP") and writing this blog.
The UP has changed since its original opening (June 6, 2015 I remember from a previous trip), most noticeably with the new C$9.00 fare. A whole new breakfast eating commuter crowd making full use of the pull down trays with teetering large triple triple Tim Horton coffees now boards at the first stop (Weston). So, you no longer have the luxury of sprawling across two seats with your luggage everywhere if you were expecting that from the early days of UP travel, that was at a much higher price.
Still a pleasant ride with polite staff/ticket takers and interesting and knowledgeable "On the UP" magazine. A friendly female and bilingual voice welcoming all passengers from both stops (not just us red eye flight arrivals) before arriving at Union Station to begin the day.
The commute is pleasant taking 25 minutes with comfortable and sleek seating from where you can keep your eye on your luggage due to the availability of several luggage racks. If you are from Toronto, or familiar with the city, you will be amused by the ever changing downtown core comprised of long standing and newer glass and steel condos along with newly erected slabs of concrete strangely placed along the most narrow triangular pieces of remaining land.
Nearing downtown, you will find yourself "racing" with the slowing VIA and GO trains as all converge into the same final stop. Continuing on my trip east of Toronto, I was surprised to learn that the entire GO train hub had been moved to a much wider and brighter area in the west end of the new Union Station overhaul. No longer the dark dungeon defined by varying degrees of brown that welcomed and "motivated" commuters for their upcoming work day before navigating their way through a complex array of random coffee shops and lottery ticket vendors.
Even the bathrooms, that were once the "Worst toilet in Toronto" (cue Ewan McGregor accent from Train Spotting), now have such 2016 amenities as fully tiled level floors and electric hand dryers (yes, electricity!). In all seriousness, the entire western end of the new Union Station is a success in combining the spirit and style of the old heyday of train travel and accompanying architecture with a refreshing, modern, sleek take on the mundane, daily GO commute.
Once arrived into the downtown core, you are easily launched into a web of office towers, hotels, sports stadiums along with infinite possibilities of human interactions, chains of events and epicenters of activities that make up a bustling city wherever your path takes you that day (and there is a PATH for that too!).
Toronto, you have starred on "What Not To Wear" and have ditched the "Scarborough smoking jacket". A positive image improvement.
No comments:
Post a Comment