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I NEVER said that any of this is VIA's fault. As I stated, VIA was doomed from its inception because the task it was given was an impossible one. VIA was not created by forward thinking governments trying to create a vibrant passenger rail service but rather a plan written on the back of a napkin in a desperate attempt to maintain some form of service when CP wanted to quit the business.

The fact that VIA is a government entity IS the problem. If Ottawa would simply sell its assets off allowing private companies to build/run their own service then we wouldn't be spending gobs of money servicing some outposts. These VIA mandates imposed by Ottawa is why you can get from Smithers to Prince Rupert on VIA but not Edmonton to Calgary. Ottawa should certainly put in service mandates, regulate price increases, service quality standards etc very similar to other government regulated industries but let the private sector run the system.

As for me being a disgruntled BCer who is upset about having lousy service, I am quite the opposite. BC shouldn't have ANY VIA service out here or anywhere in Western Canada because I know a waste of money when I see it. Of course the only exception to that is Calgary/Edmonton which perversely doesn't have any service.
 
ssiguy2 said:
These VIA mandates imposed by Ottawa is why you can get from Smithers to Prince Rupert on VIA but not Edmonton to Calgary. Ottawa should certainly put in service mandates, regulate price increases, service quality standards etc very similar to other government regulated industries but let the private sector run the system.
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If the free market is so great, why isn't the free market delivering passenger rail service from Calgary to Edmonton?
 
ssiguy2 said:
As for me being a disgruntled BCer who is upset about having lousy service, I am quite the opposite. BC shouldn't have ANY VIA service out here or anywhere in Western Canada because I know a waste of money when I see it.
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Have you ever read Aesop's fable of the Fox and the Grapes?
 
kEiThZ said:
If this is true, they deserve to lose power. In essence, you are suggesting that they are afraid to govern.

It also means that a lot of their rhetoric and messaging on climate change, infrastructure investment, economic development, etc is insincere. Good to have confirmation, I guess.....

Also, how daft do you have to be to think a rail corridor for use by most of the middle class, would be seen the same way as an oil pipeline in BC?
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It's a massive infrastructure project that is very popular in certain regions with certain constituencies while much of the rest of the country thinks it's a gigantic boondoggle.
 
With all the Brightline discussion, I'm surprised nobody's brought up the other fundamental factor in its relative success (as well as the success of various Japanese rail firms)---real estate. There are enormous economic gains associated with developing the areas around transit hubs. Translink is very wise to start to include this in their future planning. I only wish it was part of Via HFR, too.
 
Frank_Lee said:
With all the Brightline discussion, I'm surprised nobody's brought up the other fundamental factor in its relative success (as well as the success of various Japanese rail firms)---real estate. There are enormous economic gains associated with developing the areas around transit hubs. Translink is very wise to start to include this in their future planning. I only wish it was part of Via HFR, too.
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Yes but even in Japan with their declining population in rural areas are substituting trains for buses. It's not all green grass on the other side. All of the new Shinkansen routes are subsidized by the local governments, and they don't all break even.
 
Frank_Lee said:
With all the Brightline discussion, I'm surprised nobody's brought up the other fundamental factor in its relative success (as well as the success of various Japanese rail firms)---real estate
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Frank_Lee said:
I only wish it was part of Via HFR, too.
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20 Story Condo towers for Havelock, Tweed and Sharbot Lake.
 
Willybru21 said:
Thank you!
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Before you start making elaborate analyses across multiple timetable periods, I have a spreadsheet which can do most of what would manually take hours in a matter of seconds. Are there any VIA routes or services of which you are particularly interested in their operational history?
 
Yes, Brightline is very much a real estate development rail corridor but the primary question is .........who cares?

Already Brightline has passed Amtrac ridership along its corridor and the damn thing isn't even open to Orlando yet. The travelling public doesn't give a damn about it being built by developers. All they care about is having a fast, reliable, comfortable, and frequent rail service which Brightline certainly offers and Amtrac certainly doesn't.

The Brightline trains are much faster and new as opposed to the WW2 surplus tanks that Amtrac runs. The stations are new and exceptionally well maintained and pleasant as opposed to the glorified bus shelters Amtrac has to offer. Brightline also has a fleet of bike-shares, Uber vehicles, and its own micro-buses to get people to and from the station within a 5 mile radius............free of charge! Can you imagine in your wildest dreams Amtrac {or VIA} ever offering such a service?

People want a great transportation service and if they are offered one then they will happily take it and they couldn't care less who owns the land around it.
 
ssiguy2 said:
Yes, Brightline is very much a real estate development rail corridor but the primary question is .........who cares?

Already Brightline has passed Amtrac ridership along its corridor and the damn thing isn't even open to Orlando yet. The travelling public doesn't give a damn about it being built by developers. All they care about is having a fast, reliable, comfortable, and frequent rail service which Brightline certainly offers and Amtrac certainly doesn't.

The Brightline trains are much faster and new as opposed to the WW2 surplus tanks that Amtrac runs. The stations are new and exceptionally well maintained and pleasant as opposed to the glorified bus shelters Amtrac has to offer. Brightline also has a fleet of bike-shares, Uber vehicles, and its own micro-buses to get people to and from the station within a 5 mile radius............free of charge! Can you imagine in your wildest dreams Amtrac {or VIA} ever offering such a service?

People want a great transportation service and if they are offered one then they will happily take it and they couldn't care less who owns the land around it.
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Like with any transportation system (except cars) the last mile is a huge problem and good on bright line for figuring that out. If only we had that kind of vision for the new Northlander service. I bet even a $20 flat rate taxi or shuttle service would make sense. People would pay if it beats driving.
 
DSC said:
Perhaps because the pretty fast and frequent bus service, run by private enterprise, is none too crowded?
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Correct. But we're routinely told, that the private sector will show up with billions and enthusiastically build choo choos if only VIA gets out of way. Funny, how in the only major corridor without VIA service, they just built bus service.
 
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