VIA Rail

[littlewill1166]

I checked the VIA site and they seem to have one express’ish train. And cheap, only $23

Review your itinerary, fare and baggage allowance

TORONTO UNION STATION NIAGARA FALLS Modify this trip​

Departs: 08:20 Arrives: 10:16 Train :97 Class: Economy - Escape fare

Megabus is $16 each way, GO is $10 return on Sundays and $20 each way on all other days. The problem with VIA /GO/MegaBus is that they all take you to downtown Niagara Falls which is quite far away from the convention center. You'll lose all the time you save taking the train trying to get to the convention center from the train station. If you don't want to drive, the least expensive and most convenient option is to take the casino bus: link here. It's $10 with a PAC membership and $30 without for a round trip, but you get a $10 slot credit which you can get back by playing video roulette. If you want to take the train for the scenery, then, by all means, go for it.

 

[Urban Sky]

I know we had this discussion before, but the price of having turnable seats is that you can't have any quads with table, which make traveling with family or friends much more enjoyable:

I have been made aware that the HEP 1 coaches (like on the Canadian) have turnable seats and tables for the quads. However, the tables have to be manually installed by the train staff (and stored somewhere in the car when not needed) and I recall that they can collapse (and potentially cause minor injuries to passengers if not installed correctly). Anyways, I've traveled extensively by train in Japan and I don't recall seeing any turnable seats with proper tables (i.e. large enough to comfortable work on a Laptop or to play cards or even board games with friends) and I struggle to imagine how such an arrangement could be achieved in modern rail equipment (recall that the HEP1 coaches were manufactured some 70 years ago). Also, I don't know how turnable seats could be implemented in a reservation system which is supposed to display the seat orientation. And how groups of 3 would be handled if one is seated next to a stranger and there is a disagreement whether the two seats should face the direction of travel or the 2 friends seated in the row behind. In short, I'm skeptical about how to reconcile turnable seats with online seat selection, but if anyone knows of any examples with modern rail equipment anywhere in the world, please let me know...!

As a passenger, the reason we pick VIA is because we don't like being nickled and dimed. Remember, VIA is a public service and not a for-profit corporation. If VIA does this, they should also provide an option to do it for free 24 hours in advance, like the airlines.

I hope you are aware that any dollar you pay in ticket fares or other fees to VIA is reinvested in such noble causes such as my salary, which supports a family of three and you don't want to have my one-and-a-half-year-old be hungry just because you dismiss reservation fees as rip-off charges, or would you?

In all seriousness: not even the Corridor routes are profitable and at a cost-recovery rate of 68%, the taxpayer pays 47 cents for every Dollar you pay to VIA. Therefore, every additional Dollar you spend on VIA decreases its deficit, which makes the passenger rail network it supports less exposed to money-pinching politicians (the cuts of 1981, 1990 or 2012 should serve as a warning) while making VIA more financially independent from federal subsidies, thus decreasing the ability of Transport Canada to veto service expansions. Furthermore, not allowing all passengers to choose their seats has the invaluable advantage of preventing that everyone takes window seats, which might prevent passengers travelling together from actually sitting together if the car is already half-booked, despite presumably paying a higher fare than those early bird who already booked all window seats. Therefore, it would be preferable to have passengers which can be moved around if space is needed to accommodate a last-minute group or family and it is only fair to move those people who paid the least for their seats.

That said, I can't stress enough that I have no idea about what booking/reservation policies VIA is going to implement with its new fleet, new reservation system and (hopefully!) HFR...

 

[littlewill1166]

I hope you are aware that any dollar you pay in ticket fares or other fees to VIA is reinvested in such noble causes such as my salary, which supports a family of three and you don't want to have my one-and-a-half-year-old be hungry just because you dismiss reservation fees are rip-off charges, or would you?

I was kind of assuming that the government would backstop this through subsidies, but I see your point with the cuts. From a politician's point of view, it's really easy to say that the $143 million a year is a subsidy to people who don't need it and that the money is better invested in improving bus services. It's just that my heart sinks when I see a broke university student in Toronto being charged a $40 extra carryon fee which is often more expensive than the ticket itself, which they also wouldn't have had to pay if they boarded at a minor station because only the station staff seem to care about these things and not the onboard crew.

Furthermore, not allowing all passengers to choose their seats has the invaluable advantage of preventing that everyone takes window seats, which might prevent passengers travelling together from actually sitting together if the car is already half-booked, despite presumably paying a higher fare than those early bird who already booked all window seats. Therefore, it would be preferable to have passengers which can be moved around if space is needed to accommodate a last-minute group or family and it is only fair to move those people who paid the least for their seats.

That said, I can't stress enough that I have no idea about what booking/reservation policies VIA is going to implement with its new fleet, new reservation system and (hopefully!) HFR...

Isn't this what car 3 is for? It's almost empty most of the time and SMs stand outside of the car at Union waving people in, although sometimes they're understaffed and I get asked to open the door.

 

[dowlingm]

Where was the CN-CP connecting track supposed to go?

 

[Urban Sky]

I was kind of assuming that the government would backstop this through subsidies, but I see your point with the cuts. From a politician's point of view, it's really easy to say that the $143 million a year is a subsidy to people who don't need it and that the money is better invested in improving bus services. It's just that my heart sinks when I see a broke university student in Toronto being charged a $40 extra carryon fee which is often more expensive than the ticket itself, which they also wouldn't have had to pay if they boarded at a minor station because only the station staff seem to care about these things and not the onboard crew.

Anyone booked under a Youth fare is entitled to 1 personal item (e.g. a backpack) and 2 large items (e.g. suitcases), which is the maximum I can handle (even as a 6'3" tall and reasonably strong person). Do the students you know or see really travel with 3 suitcases at once?

Carry-on baggage | VIA Rail

Find out how much and what kind of carry-on baggage you may bring on your train trip with VIA Rail.

www.viarail.ca

Running down the platform at Brussels (or London) to reach my coach at the end of the Eurostar train before the other passengers block the baggage storage place I need for my two suitcases (one hosting my desktop PC, the other my flatscreen and clothes) with their ridiculously small bags - those where the days when I commuted twice a year between my home town Darmstadt and the University of Leeds (with 3 convenient transfers: Frankfurt-Brussels-London). I believe that just the baggage fees for the airplane would have cost me more than my entire train ticket...

 

[littlewill1166]

Anyone booked under a Youth fare is entitled to 1 personal item (e.g. a backpack) and 2 large items (e.g. suitcases), which is the maximum I can handle (even as a 6'3" tall and reasonably strong person). Do the students you know or see really travel with 3 suitcases at once?
View attachment 234372

Carry-on baggage | VIA Rail

Find out how much and what kind of carry-on baggage you may bring on your train trip with VIA Rail.

www.viarail.ca

Running down the platform at Brussels (or London) to reach my coach at the end of the Eurostar train before the other passengers block the baggage storage place I need for my two suitcases (one hosting my desktop PC, the other my flatscreen and clothes) with their ridiculously small bags - those where the days when I commuted twice a year between my home town Darmstadt and the University of Leeds (with 3 convenient transfers: Frankfurt-Brussels-London). I believe that just the baggage fees for the airplane would have cost me more than my entire train ticket...

It was 3 gym bags on the Thursday before reading week. I actually see it quite regularly near reading week and exams. I think you'd be surprised about what people bring, I've seen laser printers, bags of dirty laundry, and I swear, a glass bong sitting just casually sitting on the luggage rack. I'm starting to think that VIA stripped it's student passes because they don't want students bringing these things on trains anymore.

 

[Urban Sky]

It was 3 gym bags on the Thursday before reading week. I actually see it quite regularly near reading week and exams. I think you'd be surprised about what people bring, I've seen laser printers, bags of dirty laundry, and I swear, a glass bong sitting just casually sitting on the luggage rack. I'm starting to think that VIA stripped it's student passes because they don't want students bringing these things on trains anymore.

How does a student with 3 gym bags even manage to get from his origin to the train station where he boards the train and from the train station where he leaves the train to his destination without another person helping him carry or picking him up or dropping him off? And what prevents him from packing all that stuff into 2 suitcases, which not only happen to comply with VIA's baggage allowance, but are also much more transportable? Honestly, I am almost glad that we charge such passengers for excess baggage, because if common sense doesn't tell you that you have to pack smart, then maybe financial pain will teach you this life lesson...

As I said, I regularly commuted back home from University travelling on 4 different trains and through as different many countries (UK-F-B-D) and I always considered the maximum baggage allowance (in absence of an official limit) as what I was able to carry without any assistance...

 

[Streety McCarface]

How does a student with 3 gym bags even manage to get from his origin to the train station where he boards the train and from the train station where he leaves the train to his destination without another person helping him carry or picking him up or dropping him off? And what prevents him from packing all that stuff into 2 suitcases, which not only happen to comply with VIA's baggage allowance, but are also much more transportable? Honestly, I am almost glad that we charge such passengers for excess baggage, because if common sense doesn't tell you that you have to pack smart, then maybe financial pain will teach you this life lesson...

As I said, I regularly commuted back home from University travelling on 4 different trains and through as different many countries (UK-F-B-D) and I always considered the maximum baggage allowance (in absence of an official limit) as what I was able to carry without any assistance...

I've easily carried 6 bags on a train — 1 backpack, 2 bags full of stuff, 2 suitcases and a shoulder bag with my papers in it. It's not that hard. 3 Gym bags is easy — 1 over each shoulder and carrying one, or 2 over the shoulders and carry one.

Also, some people have to take a lot of stuff because of external circumstances; perhaps they're bringing snow equipment or are trying to comply with weight allowances. In the case where I was taking 6 bags, I was transporting 3 bags worth of clothing, old toys, gifts, and a bunch of other stuff for my aunt. Since I was staying there for a significant amount of time, I required 2 bags of personal gear (clothes, electronics, and sports gear), plus an additional one for food for the journey.

3 bags of clothing when you're moving elsewhere (moving back from uni, or moving to a Co-op site) isn't that crazy.

 

[littlewill1166]

I've easily carried 6 bags on a train — 1 backpack, 2 bags full of stuff, 2 suitcases and a shoulder bag with my papers in it. It's not that hard. 3 Gym bags is easy — 1 over each shoulder and carrying one, or 2 over the shoulders and carry one.

Also, some people have to take a lot of stuff because of external circumstances; perhaps they're bringing snow equipment or are trying to comply with weight allowances. In the case where I was taking 6 bags, I was transporting 3 bags worth of clothing, old toys, gifts, and a bunch of other stuff for my aunt. Since I was staying there for a significant amount of time, I required 2 bags of personal gear (clothes, electronics, and sports gear), plus an additional one for food for the journey.

3 bags of clothing when you're moving elsewhere (moving back from uni, or moving to a Co-op site) isn't that crazy.

Did you get hit with an extra baggage fee?

 

[Streety McCarface]

Did you get hit with an extra baggage fee?

Not on Amtrak.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Megabus is $16 each way, GO is $10 return on Sundays and $20 each way on all other days. The problem with VIA /GO/MegaBus is that they all take you to downtown Niagara Falls which is quite far away from the convention center.

I've booked the train for Monday, one way, departs Union 8:20am, arrives 10:15am Niagara Falls. I'll catch a ride back with the team afterward. The station is 5km from the convention centre so a short taxi ride. The cost isn't important, as I'd otherwise be charging the company $0.50/km. Total with HST was $26. I didn't want to take the bus for the same reason I don't want to drive, QEW traffic.

I have to admit I'm a train fan, so I look for any excuse to ride the rails. In August I'm riding the Pickering to Whitby train...... UK that is.

 

[rbt]

I need to go to the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls in a few weeks. Can I take Via there from Union instead of driving? According to Google Maps it’s about a 2.5 hour drive from my place near Carlton and Sumach. Would the train be faster?

Side Note: If you take Via from Toronto to Niagara Falls, take your passport with you. You may not be allowed to board without it despite not needing to clear customs.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Side Note: If you take Via from Toronto to Niagara Falls, take your passport with you. You may not be allowed to board without it despite not needing to clear customs.

I checked my ticket. No mention of passport.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Photo ID may be required on board the train. Failure to present a photo ID may result in having to purchase a new ticket at the regular fare on board the train.
IMPORTANT:: Please note that PHOTO ID is mandatory on this train.

 

[littlewill1166]

I checked my ticket. No mention of passport.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Photo ID may be required on board the train. Failure to present a photo ID may result in having to purchase a new ticket at the regular fare on board the train.
IMPORTANT:: Please note that PHOTO ID is mandatory on this train.

Yeah, a health card or driver's license also works. The funny thing is that they only check in Toronto and if you get on at any of the intermediate stations, they' don't care.

 

[rbt]

I checked my ticket. No mention of passport.

Training may have improved. They were very unhappy with just my normal wallet things (health card, credit cards, etc.) on a Toronto to Grimsby trip ~5 years ago; staff initially said no but the conductor reluctantly let me to after a few phone calls. Only time I've been frisked, had an entire car to myself, and been escorted off the train (they searched my seat and overhead space as I left).