micheal_can
Senior Member
Makes me wonder with what the next government most likely will be, what will be left of Via in 10 years. My guess is the existing Corridor is safe. Anything else is gone.
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VIA Rail
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
cplchanb
Senior Member
a tremendous shame if that were to happen. how are we going to be a "developed" country when our infrastructure is stuck in the 60s and only contracting...
micheal_can
Senior Member
In the 1960s, some of the timetables were faster than today.The problem is, equating passenger rail to developed is not that accurate. Transportation is not as simple as that. However, when the free market fails, and governments reduce services, we get what we have in Canada.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Indeed. From 2023. https://www.acta.ca/news-releases/via0623
MP Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, Ont.), Conservative Treasury Board critic, questioned ongoing subsidies for the Crown railway as unfair competition to private airlines. “The airline system is not subsidized,” Poilievre said; “In fact it is a net contributor to the Government of Canada. Airlines pay corporate taxes, fuel taxes, airport rents; the passenger pays for the cost of security.” Why should taxpayers be subsidizing a money-losing mode of transportation at the expense of a money-generating mode of transportation?” he said; “That’s just the reality. The Winnipeg to Churchill per passenger subsidy is $1,000 – what is a plane ticket from Winnipeg to Churchill?” “There are no planes on the 42 stops between Winnipeg and Churchill,” replied Desjardins-Siciliano. “That is why the Government of Canada provides the service.”
Subsidies per passenger on the VIA system range from $37 on the Toronto-Ottawa-Montréal run to $317 at Toronto-Niagara; $461 on Ocean service from Montréal to Halifax; $528 per passenger on transcontinental service from Toronto to Vancouver; and $779 per passenger from Winnipeg to Churchill, Man., the highest subsidy in the network.
C_Johnson_1995
Active Member
This is something that I was trying to highlight on the non-corridor thread. It really feels like the idea that VIA will survive the Pollievre super-majority outside of the corridor is either naive or a coping mechanism.
I think the only comforting thought is that services like the Ocean, and the Quebec regional services are much better served by motor coaches and Lillooet-style rail busses where absolutely necessary. The only problem is that the CPC would sooner buy everyone a Hummer H1 and the cancelations of these services would not in fact be a catalyst for better busses and would infact be the permanent end to intercity public transport in most of Canada.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Indeed. And, Mark Strahl (CPC Shadow Minister for Transport), son of PM Harper's Minister of Transport Chuck Strahl, shown ripping on VIA below in 2012, does not appear likely to push back on any deep cuts demanded by Pollievre.
Romanticism shields 'outrageous' Via Rail subsidies: ex-Tory minister
'The well-to-do business traveller is being heavily subsidized by the waitress working two shifts at McDonald's,' Chuck Strahl says
www.theglobeandmail.com
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urbancog
Active Member
Vote accordingly!
micheal_can
Senior Member
With what happened this week in the Toronto by election, while I feel we need to vote accordingly,we also must come to the conclusion we may be in the final chapters of the Via story.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Maybe. And maybe the future of intercity and same day distant rail in Canada is provincial. Here in Ontario we have Queen’s Park overseeing the operation and funding for both the Ontario Northland Railway and GO Train networks, and in Quebec there’s the Exo passenger rail service. The Corridor could go to a QC/ON consortium. The Canadian and Ocean tourist trains could be privatized and made high end, like the Rocky Mountaineer, Australia’s India-Pacific or the Orient Express. The Winnipeg-Churchill route could be turned over to the Manitoba government to run, at least until a highway was constructed. And perhaps a private Edmonton to Calgary route could be funded by private oil money?
micheal_can
Senior Member
None of that would make cross Canada travel better by rail.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
I make no claims otherwise. I’m more suggesting a path that we may be taking.
micheal_can
Senior Member
The path may be that of Air Canada and Greyhound.
Urban Sky
Senior Member
Not sure what point you are trying to make, given that Greyhound has abandoned all domestic routes and Air Canada does not operate in any markets where subsidized VIA services would be any significant form of competition…
crs1026
Superstar
Don't wait til an election. Write letters, join advocacy groups, get the issue on the table now. Call your MP, call whoever you suspect will run against your MP. Write the media. Make noise.
- Paul
micheal_can
Senior Member
Well, Greyhound has abandoned completely.
Air Canada's service and coverage is not as good as it was. Everything from seat sizes and meal options and even on time performance have all become worse since privatization.
In short, if Via's services became a private entity or entities, many routes will become abandoned. Other routes will become worse, but not cheaper.