Great overview of the current state of affairs at VIA. As a monthly rider between Ottawa and TO, one gets the sense of a general malaise in spite of the promise of HFR and new Siemens stock.
Any transportation system (this means Transit as well) depends on reliability and speed, right now VIA has neither (unless constantly late qualifies as reliable). I count on transit at either end of the round trip and nothing is more discouraging than missing a GO connection or an OC Transpo transfer. We get teased by the promise of High Speed Rail from Ministers who don't know one end of the train from the other and don't understand the flaws of the current system (they should ride with us plebs to experience the bottlenecks in disembarkation at Union St on the platforms when rushing to catch the next bus/train). By the time the political decision gets made and implemented, most of us dedicated riders will be too old to ride. Or we will have switched to the cheaper competition (Flix, Megabus etc.).
Great overview of the current state of affairs at VIA. As a monthly rider between Ottawa and TO, one gets the sense of a general malaise in spite of the promise of HFR and new Siemens stock.
Any transportation system (this means Transit as well) depends on reliability and speed, right now VIA has neither (unless constantly late qualifies as reliable). I count on transit at either end of the round trip and nothing is more discouraging than missing a GO connection or an OC Transpo transfer. We get teased by the promise of High Speed Rail from Ministers who don't know one end of the train from the other and don't understand the flaws of the current system (they should ride with us plebs to experience the bottlenecks in disembarkation at Union St on the platforms when rushing to catch the next bus/train). By the time the political decision gets made and implemented, most of us dedicated riders will be too old to ride. Or we will have switched to the cheaper competition (Flix, Megabus etc.).