Blacklock’s- Subsidy $1,015 Per Passenger
VIA in a Summary Of The 2024-2028 Corporate Plan said the cross-country train lost $62.6 million last year. Taxpayers’ subsidy per passenger were $1,015, the highest in the entire VIA Rail network.
VIA Rail’s operating deficit totaled $380.2 million last year, said the Corporate Plan. The deficit is projected to reach $450 million by 2028.
Based on those numbers, it would save money if they paid airfare for every passenger and bus fare on shorter destinations than to keep Via on the tracks. Rail transport in our non densely populated nation doesn’t make sense for passenger service. Rail is economical for moving a lot of tonnage.
As I have mentioned a few times, kill Via Rail except for the few rare communities with rail access but no road and immediately start building roads. Anyone who wants to run a passenger service can do it on their own dime.
Do you think PP can figure this out.
Sure. But he’s just being vewy vewy quiet.
Tag the passenger service onto a potash unit train. At least a couple of those per day through downtown Calgary, each way.
Labour on passenger cars for food and beverage service only.
The Cross Country trains VIA#1 (Toronto to Vancouver) and VIA#2 (Vancouver to Toronto) has tickets starting at $566 for an economy seat across Canada (It’s a 92 hour trip, give or take) to over $10k for a prestige class sleeper room, plus taxes. They run approximately twice a week.
The sleeper rooms are typically sold out but I doubt the economy ones are.
It’s a luxury that they could probably save money by reducing the number of trains per week down to 1 each direction.
l was treated extremely badly by VIA regarding an assault case.
specifically an OBVIOUS drunk kicks me in the leg to get me out of the line.
cops show up, blame it all on me coming home from a church meeting.
last month l spot checked, told what to expect from security people was confidential called and complained about that, spot checked again this time the unionboy agent blames it on the bus station riff raff coming to the train station.
and gives me the phone number of the BUS COMPANY to complain about events on VIA PROPERTY.
ya thats a stretch.
so in addition to Karma using covid to kick the crap out of them and laying off thousands of mouthy ones, looks like she’s not finished with them.
good. fcuk ’em. ultimate Karma is their disbandment.
In Canada nothing is done right and the hapless tax payer have to suck it up again and again.
Hey Poilievre, you had better mean what you say about reducing taxes and spending.
Why am I so skeptical? Because all politicians I have watched for decades all eventually turn to shit with a few exceptions. Will you be an exception?
Let’s do more, let’s do bigger, let’s lose more money.
With a high speed train between Quebec City and Toronto more money can be lost more quickly
The are making no money because the website is impossible to use. It is the worst POS website on the entire web. I tried twice to get a ticket, I called once & got attitude so not doing it.
Nothing the gov touches works in this stupid country.
I contrast Via Rail with the Go Train which I used yesterday to get in and out of Toronto. Easy to buy tickets, people behaved on both trips. Heading in the train had an issue and was 11 minutes late. Heading out was on time. Heading out a conductor asked for everyone’s ticket and 2 people were free loading which starts with “let’s see some ID”. A few strange people in Union Station.
And I contrast the Go Train with the Subway which I don’t take anymore because of the other passengers.
So it is possible to run a passenger train in Canada.
GO Train is a commuter train not a passenger train as such and is heavily subsidized by the Ontario gov’t to the tune of more than $500M annually.
Thank you for this information, I had not known of this obscene subsidy. I have used Via Rail in the past 5 years, to go from Montreal to Ottawa and from Ottawa to Toronto. I had no problems using the website. But if it must be subsidized this much, then it should be eliminated.
I remember about 7 years ago, when the Saskatchewan Party disbanded the STC, the provincial bus service. Oh my goodness, the sky was falling according to the provincial NDP. The STC building is now the home of the Regina Police Service and STC, which was primarily used to transport parcels, has been replaced with entrepreneurs who use vans on limited runs to take people from small towns into the nearest city for health appointments, shopping or to deliver parcels.
But I am a big believer in capitalism, so there is that!
The gov’t has no business being in business.