dowlingm
Senior Member
if you think flying in Canada is cheap you have never taken a Ryanair flight.
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VIA Rail
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
mdrejhon
Senior Member
Yes, it's usually not cheap to fly in Canada --
But we now finally have a RyanAir-like airline called Swoop in Canada. I was able to see some $69 fare sales to fly between Toronto and Vancouver. Or those $29 Vancouver-Edmonton airfares (that pair was sometimes $19 last year). I think I saw a fare sale last year on Halifax for as low as $59 Browse 2 months out and you'll see crazy cheap stuff. And Toronto now has Flair, not as cheap as Swoop, but the $59 Toronto-Ottawa fares beginning this summer 2020 start to fall into RyanAir league territory.
(Granted, Toronto-Vancouver is actually Hamilton-Abbotsford but RyanAir plays the same game of flying into minor airports near big cities)
Flew 5 times with Swoop and... it's kind of a Canadian equivalent of RyanAir.
Just like RyanAir, must pack light -- even clothes in your laptop bag to get out of a ~$50 carry-on fee!
That said, have a Plan B if your flight is cancelled. They'll essentially abandon you at the airport and you might have to wait days for your replacement flight they offer. They're currently constrained by the lack of Westjet 737 hand-me-downs due to the Westjet 737 Max groundings, so Swoop currently doesn't have a spare backup airplane. RyanAir is known to do the passenger-abandoning game, mind you -- but at least you've got lots of European rail options as backups. Here in Canada, not so much, and we're also a bigger country, so we only can compare to RyanAir's longer-haul routes which are actually similar priced for similar distances.
Caveat emptor with both RyanAir and Swoop (and Flair), but the prices have been tempting if you travel light.
I rather take the VIA train if it's within a day trip mind you -- lots more baggage allowance, gigantic legroom, seats actually recline, etc.
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robmausser
Senior Member
There is also Flair Air, they just announced some new routes and a new plane. But they are less stable than Swoop, at least Swoop has their big brother WestJet to bail them out.
Northern Light
Superstar
From the above:
For the Ocean, the loss of the Halifax rail loop will eliminate the use of currently operated Renaissance equipment, which cannot function in push-pull (bi-directional) configuration. Consequently, VIA Rail is planning the following strategic changes:
- Introducing an Eastern Intercity service in the Maritimes between Campbellton–Moncton and Moncton–Halifax to better serve the local market;
- Reconfiguring the consists, and optimizing the cycling and allocation of VIA Rail’s Long-Haul equipment.
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VIA Rail continues to examine routing options by using the best of CN’s or CP’s routes from a customer’s perspective, such as the CP route along the picturesque north shore of Lake Superior.
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3.7.1
Eastern Intercity:
VIA Rail is currently exploring an eastern intercity corridor service from Halifax to Campbellton, which would fill in the frequency gap that was created when the Ocean was reduced from six to three weekly frequencies and benefit local travellers. It would also respond to the travel patterns of regional passengers who remain within the Maritimes (CBTN-MCTN↔HLFX).
As previously noted, passenger rail service is important to the communities of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, as illustrated by this excerpt from the CTA Review:
“Passenger rail service may be the only viable transportation option for many residents living in communities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The need for this passenger service is becoming more acute given the ageing demographic in Atlantic Canada that is highly dependent on public transportation services. We recommend that the CTA include an appropriate provision that would commit the federal government to guarantee the existing level of service as a minimum and provide appropriate resources to VIA Rail as required to continue pursuing and implementing new initiatives to rebuild the service.” — Atlantic Canada Ministers of Transportation Submission to the CTA Review January 23, 2015
An infrastructure study provided preliminary rail upgrade costs estimated at $6.3 million and Rail Diesel Car (RDC) testing has taken place on the Newcastle Subdivision. The final results are conclusive, with all crossing automatic warning devices activating as intended. In early February 2018, CN responded that the RDCs will be allowed to operate at passenger speed on the Springhill and Bedford subdivisions. Further details regarding the infrastructure upgrades are pending
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4.1.5 Infrastructure Investments
-VIA Rail has been unsuccessful with negotiations to construct a connecting track from CN to CP as well as a detour track between Montréal and Ottawa.
-VIA Rail will consider investing in RTM and Metrolinx infrastructure proportionate to usage, where necessary and when clear contractual benefits can be guaranteed.
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mdrejhon
Senior Member
The Canadian was actually on-time 84% of the time a decade ago? That's not fantasyland?
TIL.
TIL.
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smallspy
Senior Member
While the ultimate plan is to introduce a more regionally-focused service, there is a lot of concern that the plans, preparations, equipment, staff and agreements with the host railroads will not be ready in time for the closure of the balloon track later this year.
So, to that end, there is a plan in place that will see mixed trains consisting of both HEP and Renaissance equipment running the current Ocean schedule for the foreseeable future. And while the Ren cars can't be configured to run push-pull, they are bidirectional and will be used as such.
Dan
cplchanb
Senior Member
hopefully they can use this as driver to buy new bi-directional sets so that this wont be an issue. Perhaps a follow on to the corridor sets? Or maybe introduce dmus to the regional routes?
littlewill1166
Active Member
The corporate plan says that they're using rebuilt HEP units with new LRC style seating though.
lenaitch
Senior Member
I'd ride that just as an excursion trip (depending if daylight scheduling), as I think many would. That area is very scenic.
SOS_Urbanist
New Member
Wonder if they are considering using the Wye at Truro as a backstop to turn the train around. Place one of the two locos at the end of the Park car in a pull config and then put the other in a push config?
Admiral Beez
Superstar
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?
littlewill1166
Active Member
Train is slower 90% of the time. Car is fastest, then Megabus, then VIA, then GO. People on that route who take VIA are often tourists, people going to the states, or people using passes.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
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
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littlewill1166
Active Member
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
Senior Member
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...!
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...
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