A little factchecking - Google tells me that Hunstville already has three taxi services, Gravenhurst has three, and Bracebridge has one of Gravenhurst's and two of its own.
I won't digress into rideshare vs taxi, but the point is... if the market has any base to it, some service already exists, at least in skeleton form.
The issues would then be
- Price - how much does it cost to reach the cottage from the train
- Coverage - there are many back lakes, not clear to me how far taxis are permitted or willing to roam from these town
- Availability - how many taxi's are willing to be on the road at that time of day, and do they already have customers eg school kids
- Elasticity - how much would the potential of train passengers for a four day a week, one train each way ridership encourage communities to add taxi licenses, or to encourage people to become part time or full time rideshare drivers
All of this says to me, if someone is determined to make this trip, and pay whatever is charged, they probably already have that option. But achieving a lineup of taxi's at the station waiting for the train to arrive seems unrealistic. And if someone is at the cottage hoping to take the train to the city, they need to book in advance and expect pickup well before train time. And I see little likelihood of communities spending tax dollars on this kind of travel - so unless a community is considering a regional demand or minibus service for other purposes, it won't be happening just to add train connectivity.
- Paul
PS - my own boyhood cottage experience included riding a Penetang-Midland Flxible Clipper that made regular trips between those points, child's fare 5 cents. I do wonder if local bus service might return in some form to cottage country, at least to get people into town for shopping trips etc. and maybe to help parents relieve kids' boredom.
