Before we can leapfrog other countries, we need to at least catch up to other countries. Otherwise we're letting bureaucrats build sandcastles with taxpayer money, which would harm political support for HSR for decades to come. There are some low-hanging fruit we could try, like partnering with logistical companies. Here's what China proposes for transcontinental high speed rail:
We aren't leapfrogging anyone. I am not concerned about that. We're building HFR, not HSR. Which means this will be a 4 hr ride to Montreal, not a 2 hr ride. That means that you will necessarily have to have more amenities than what some HSR line in Europe has. A trip from say London to Montreal would be almost 6 hrs on HFR. Flight time from Toronto to London, UK is 7 hrs and you get a bed on those flights. So, like I said, while a bed isn't necessary, I hope they make business class adequate for the business traveler to be productive enough that it's actually considered useful over air travel. Moreover, we need to stop wondering about just catching up to everybody else. The market dynamics in Canada will be unique to Canada. What works in Asia or Europe, may not necessarily work here.
Remember when the A380 was first proposed, the glossy promotional videos promised duty free stores, proper restaurants and clubs, and even gyms? The reality is that airlines simply used the extra space to cram more economy seats.
Actually, the A380 has the highest ratio of floor space for any economy class passenger. Airbus offered to go from 10 abreast to 11 abreast on the main deck and still have 18" wide seats. Meanwhile all of Air Canada's 9-abreast 787s and 10-abreast 777s have 17.3" wide seats. This is all happened because the A380s is a beast on CASM (cost per airplane seat-mile). Sure. There's no gyms and only two airlines with showers. But the A380 has allowed features like this:
Business class on Singapore Airlines:
And of course, there's the famous residence on first class, a one-bedroom apartment that made use of the crown space behind the cockpit:
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And just in case, the ridiculous luxury was too much, this is what "regular" First Class is like on an Etihad A380:
My point is that they were only able to do all that because of the massive amount of space on the A380 which comes with low operating costs. And they used the space to offer amenities which their competitors couldn't. Indeed, none of those airlines offer anything similar on their other aircraft. And just in case, anybody thinks this is just the Gulf Carriers, Virgin, Korean Airways also built cocktail bars on their A380s, aside from the Gulf carriers. Turns out socializing on a long flight is important to business travelers. One might learn something from that observation.
Yes, there are opportunity costs for these choices. But make the wrong choice and you can actually lose passengers. Like I said earlier, economy class is competing with the Greyhound. And as long as the seat is better than the bus and the fare is the same, HFR will crush the bus on schedule. Business class, however, has to compete with the fact that the plane gets me there and working in 3 hrs tops. That means I have lost an hour of productivity and I'm more fatigued by the trip. Want to attract lucrative business travelers (and I'm sure VIA wants some of those fares), make J class comfortable enough to be productive or get quality rest for 4-6 hrs. Heck, I'll be impressed if they can compete with a bus service in India....:
As for the club car? An easy sell if we can the carts that VIA employees walk through with. Depending on TC mandated crew ratios, VIA could may cut back on crew too, if they have just one or two club cars providing food. And then they don't have to custom ordering at your seat.
The over-the-top luxury aside, my main point, is that I hope they don't waste the opportunity to think outside the box a little and work on developing a product that is strongly competitive with airlines. They can't compete on schedule. So they'll need to do something else.
