VIA Rail - Discussion générale ​

[jesseps]

Pff... What is the use to update there stock, when they cannot even get "HFR" functioning across this vast country.

[SamStar]

19 minutes ago, jesseps said:

Pff... What is the use to update there stock, when they cannot even get "HFR" functioning across this vast country.

To replace an already old fleet that is in dire need of replacement and improvement. HFR or not, people use VIA in the corridor.

 

[SameGuy]

Agree, but the traffic isn’t quite as enthusiastically high as you think. About as many ride VIA in the 1000+ km Québec-Windsor corridor on any given day as ride the exo1 Vaudreuil line, but the government gave VIA $1.6 billion for these anachronistic diesel Chargers, and the corridor is still woefully bad for passenger rail. Sorry, but intercity passenger rail in North America simply doesn’t fall under the “build it and they will come” paradigm, because people simply won’t give up their cars while roads aren’t tolled and gas is still relatively cheap. They could spend $15 billion on HFR and still only get 15,000 passengers a day. That is sheer wastefulness. 

[p_xavier]

44 minutes ago, SameGuy said:

Agree, but the traffic isn’t quite as enthusiastically high as you think. About as many ride VIA in the 1000+ km Québec-Windsor corridor on any given day as ride the exo1 Vaudreuil line, but the government gave VIA $1.6 billion for these anachronistic diesel Chargers, and the corridor is still woefully bad for passenger rail. Sorry, but intercity passenger rail in North America simply doesn’t fall under the “build it and they will come” paradigm, because people simply won’t give up their cars while roads aren’t tolled and gas is still relatively cheap. They could spend $15 billion on HFR and still only get 15,000 passengers a day. That is sheer wastefulness. 

As they are losing money on every passenger still, basically it's the less passengers we get the less money we lose.  Hence why the service is not great.

[SamStar]

10 minutes ago, p_xavier said:

As they are losing money on every passenger still, basically it's the less passengers we get the less money we lose.  Hence why the service is not great.

We could make the same argument for any publicly funded transit infrastructure including the REM. Aren't we going to give something in the order of 0.72$ per passenger per KM to the CDPQ ?

Deux poids, deux mesures?

 

 

[SameGuy]

13 minutes ago, p_xavier said:

As they are losing money on every passenger still, basically it's the less passengers we get the less money we lose.  Hence why the service is not great.

Lol. Bullseye.

[SameGuy]

8 minutes ago, SamStar said:

We could make the same argument for any publicly funded transit infrastructure including the REM. Aren't we going to give something in the order of 0.72$ per passenger per KM to the CDPQ ?

Deux poids, deux mesures?

 

 

Right, as I keep harping on about, “public transit” is a social service and as such shouldn’t be based on profitability. Municipal public transit also has no direct alternative at a similar cost to the end user. It is a social service. VIA service in the corridor, on the other hand, isn’t public transit, it has competition from private companies in the form of bus and air lines (along with private cars), and it charges quite a bit more money than public transit would — the buses are usually quicker and cheaper, and airlines are usually faster as well. But the plain fact is that only 16,000 people a day use VIA in the corridor and any investment in it to make it “better” can never be proportional to any predictable ridership increases, precisely because it’s cheaper and/or easier by car or bus or air in this country.

Remember, we choose to subsidize road users on this continent, first, last and always. A comfortable, smooth, 480 km train ride from Rome to Milan might cost  €40 and take a little over three hours; by car it would be €100 in petrol, €36 in tolls, and take five hours in a cramped sub-compact. Here I can hop in my comfortable Subaru and be in Toronto in five hours on $40 of unleaded, but the train — if it’s on time — would be 5½ hours and cost $100+.

[andre md]

il y a 27 minutes, SameGuy a dit :

Right, as I keep harping on about, “public transit” is a social service and as such shouldn’t be based on profitability. Municipal public transit also has no direct alternative at a similar cost to the end user. It is a social service. VIA service in the corridor, on the other hand, isn’t public transit, it has competition from private companies in the form of bus and air lines (along with private cars), and it charges quite a bit more money than public transit would — the buses are usually quicker and cheaper, and airlines are usually faster as well. But the plain fact is that only 16,000 people a day use VIA in the corridor and any investment in it to make it “better” can never be proportional to any predictable ridership increases, precisely because it’s cheaper and/or easier by car or bus or air in this country.

Remember, we choose to subsidize road users on this continent, first, last and always. A comfortable, smooth, 480 km train ride from Rome to Milan might cost  €40 and take a little over three hours; by car it would be €100 in petrol, €36 in tolls, and take five hours in a cramped sub-compact. Here I can hop in my comfortable Subaru and be in Toronto in five hours on $40 of unleaded, but the train — if it’s on time — would be 5½ hours and cost $100+.

I took the train to Toronto once from Dorval station and in  4.5 hours i was at Union station. 

[SamStar]

33 minutes ago, SameGuy said:

Here I can hop in my comfortable Subaru and be in Toronto in five hours on $40 of unleaded, but the train — if it’s on time — would be 5½ hours and cost $100+.

How much extra do you have to pay per month for your plates/insurance/mechanics/car payments?

 

[andre md]

il y a une heure, SamStar a dit :

How much extra do you have to pay per month for your plates/insurance/mechanics/car payments?

 

Subaru impreza 2021 gas consumption on hwy 7.5 l/100 km 

Distance Montreal-Toronto 540 km

Price of regular gas 1.25$ liter

540÷100×7,5 = 40.5 liters

40.5 liters × 1,25$ = 50,62$ 

Aller simple pour Toronto Vendredi 16 avril 2021

Departure 13.23 

Arrival 18.33 

Cost 49$ 

https://m.reservia.viarail.ca/#