VIA Rail

[kEiThZ]

If you like a Caesar Cocktail, do order one in VIA1.

I will second this. Some of the best Caesars I've had have been on VIA 1.

With the very odd exception, my meals in VIA1 have been better and more filling than any meal that I've had on either Cathay Pacific or British Airways premium economy, which are commonly held as some of the best airline meals in their class in the business.

I agree with Dan. Some of the best meals I’ve had “in transit” anywhere has been on VIA1. But the quality can be variable.

I have no doubt that there's some good food on VIA. However,

1) They still lack presentation and cohesive menu designs that airlines will do to ensure a continuity of experience from lounge to on-board.

2) They could do a lot better. And some of the catering in Europe and Japan shows that.

3) In the Corridor they are competing against both being able to eat in a lounge at the airport or an actual restaurant with time saved.

Mostly, I think they should use the opportunity to set themselves apart from the air. Not just, "we can give you the same as an airline." But more like, "You can't have this experience with an airline.". This is what Japan achieved with Ekiban. Something that is iconic and literally part of Japanese culture. This is all the more remarkable when you consider that they don't sell meals on their trains in Japan.

 

[Bordercollie]

I agree with Dan. Some of the best meals I’ve had “in transit” anywhere has been on VIA1. But the quality can be variable. On one trip pre-pandemic they were testing receipts/menus suggested by staff. I had a wonderful curry chicken, which you would not expect. Two weeks ago, on a trip from Quebec City, my wife had a chilled Salmon Salad with a huge piece of poached salmon. My wife declared it was perfectly prepared. A feat that is hard to imagine on a catered train. One last comment, while I have the floor…. If you like a Caesar Cocktail, do order one in VIA1. It’s huge and the staff tend to have a generous pour. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear, they are trying to put you to sleep on purpose!

I thought it was strictly beer and wine? Did that change?

 

[cplchanb]

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that VIA redesign their galleys or something like that. I don't see this as a facility problem. Flight and rail caterers can still deliver amazing food. You just gotta tell them what it should be. VIA just needs to put in a little more effort into this and maybe spend a few more dollars per plate.

Maybe they can also have something like the japanese bento boxes for sale at decent non organ donation prices in the concourse levels. I'm sure that would be very popular for the corridor riders

 

[smallspy]

I agree with Dan. Some of the best meals I’ve had “in transit” anywhere has been on VIA1. But the quality can be variable. On one trip pre-pandemic they were testing receipts/menus suggested by staff. I had a wonderful curry chicken, which you would not expect. Two weeks ago, on a trip from Quebec City, my wife had a chilled Salmon Salad with a huge piece of poached salmon. My wife declared it was perfectly prepared. A feat that is hard to imagine on a catered train. One last comment, while I have the floor…. If you like a Caesar Cocktail, do order one in VIA1. It’s huge and the staff tend to have a generous pour. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear, they are trying to put you to sleep on purpose!

This is a case where VIA and the airlines suffer from the same problems.

All of the various catering companies offer different packages and pricing levels, depending on what the airlines (and VIA) want to offer. But certain bases are well known to be not as good as others.

Toronto, for instance, is not highly regarded. Montreal, on the other hand, is.

Dan

 

[PL1]

Our company has a rule that you need to travel using the cheapest method possible, and to rent a car if it's cheaper than paying for mileage.

Car rental prices are very high right now. I'm looking to rent a car for a weekend in late August. $455 is the cheapest I've seen (midsize), using a work discount. Mind, I haven't spent a lot of time searching.

Anyway, a bit off topic. More to point out that train fares are pretty decent in comparison!

 

[Bordercollie]

Maybe they can also have something like the japanese bento boxes for sale at decent non organ donation prices in the concourse levels. I'm sure that would be very popular for the corridor riders

Or how about selling actual meals for economy class? Even at $25.00 I would pay that if I didn't have time to get it before boarding. Otherwise I'm stuck with cheese and crackers.

They used to have subs and stuff but they got rid of it.

 

[kEiThZ]

Maybe they can also have something like the japanese bento boxes for sale at decent non organ donation prices in the concourse levels. I'm sure that would be very popular for the corridor riders

I'm not sure they could pull this off. For one, VIA stations outside the major metro stops don't have enough traffic to offer food options. At major stations there are fast food options you can grab before boarding. What's needed are options they can sell onboard.

 

[Bordercollie]

I'm not sure they could pull this off. For one, VIA stations outside the major metro stops don't have enough traffic to offer food options. At major stations there are fast food options you can grab before boarding. What's needed are options they can sell onboard.

As with GO transit what they need is a community or a group of stores at the station.

Like Ajax. But I don't know why that failed so badly. Why did all of the tenants go out of business?

 

[lenaitch]

As with GO transit what they need is a community or a group of stores at the station.

Like Ajax. But I don't know why that failed so badly. Why did all of the tenants go out of business?

I don't know about specific stations but I imagine a lot has to do with location. A lot of VIA stations are either downtown and/or surrounded by commercial/industrial land because the main function of the line is freight. As for GO, it would be pretty hard for many suburban stations to attract enough traffic to make a business viable. Perhaps as frequency increases.

As for the airlines, being fed used to simply be part of the fare. Back in the '80s when I flew back and forth between N/W Ont/Winnipeg regularly, we were always fed. That was before the days of regional props serving non-remote communities; DC-9s, HS 748s; all had galleys. Heck, even with Austin Airways on scheduled runs in Twin Otters they had a coffee thermos, pop and passed around bags of cookies.

 

[Urban Sky]

As with GO transit what they need is a community or a group of stores at the station.

Like Ajax. But I don't know why that failed so badly. Why did all of the tenants go out of business?

Without having much knowledge about that particular station: in Europe, rail stations have a lot of foot traffic, even from non-travelers. In my home city of Darmstadt (a population center 30 km South of Frankfurt), the Supermarket inside the rail station makes almost half of its revenues on Sundays, when it is the only grocery shop in the city legally allowed to have opened (rail stations and airports are excempt from limits on shop’s opening hours). This model couldn’t be further from GO’s “let’s build a square mile of car parking around each of our stations!” approach…

 

[smallspy]

Or how about selling actual meals for economy class? Even at $25.00 I would pay that if I didn't have time to get it before boarding. Otherwise I'm stuck with cheese and crackers.

They used to have subs and stuff but they got rid of it.

They have been doing this for 3 or 4 years now. You can buy whatever extra VIA1 meals there may in Economy. A friend of mine has done this on almost every one of his trips since they launched it.

Dan

 

[Bordercollie]

They have been doing this for 3 or 4 years now. You can buy whatever extra VIA1 meals there may in Economy. A friend of mine has done this on almost every one of his trips since they launched it.

Dan

I tried that several times and they said they don't have extra meals due to low ridership during COVID.

Unless that has changed....in the past few months

 

[kEiThZ]

As with GO transit what they need is a community or a group of stores at the station.

Like Ajax. But I don't know why that failed so badly. Why did all of the tenants go out of business?

Because in general we are terrible of thinking of mixed use. Blows my mind, for example, that we don't build grocery stores at every GO train station. But that's a whole separate discussion.

 

[cplchanb]

Because in general we are terrible of thinking of mixed use. Blows my mind, for example, that we don't build grocery stores at every GO train station. But that's a whole separate discussion.

Gently touching on this note, a big issue about this is that many stations such as Bloomington are located in the middle of nowhere and is designed as pure commuter stops. That means outside of actual rush hours chances are there will be hardly any business for these stores. It'll he a huge money pit for rush hour traffic mainly. Maybe with the core rer stations it could be more practical but it's going to be hard to justify unless go shifts completely from commuter rail to regional express rail. Hope they can do something like this for union Station though

 

[nfitz]

They have been doing this for 3 or 4 years now. You can buy whatever extra VIA1 meals there may in Economy. A friend of mine has done this on almost every one of his trips since they launched it.

When I've done this (pre-Covid) they've made you wait until around Kingston to make sure they have enough meals.

When they got rid of the canteen, they promised that it was an improvement for the customers, as you'd be able to get the same food - but at your seat. Another broken VIA promise.

Time to bring back the canteens.