This probably won’t be a surprise to anyone familiar with Canadian passenger rail, but it is incredibly expensive. Does it have to be this way?
I’ve never lived in a place where you could realistically live without a car. I wanted to book a trip to Montreal so I could experience what it’s like to not be so car-dependent. That leaves one question: how do you get there? Well, there’s a few options:
Out of these, I would imagine a train has the best balance of comfort, speed, and eco-friendliness. After looking into the price, I saw the cost of a round-trip was about 170$ for economy. Now that’s not bad! It put my total cost for 2 people at 340$, which is much cheaper than renting a car or booking a flight.
Or at least, that’s what I thought I saw. That was actually the price 1-way. So, taking into account the GO train fare to Toronto, it would put the travel cost to an eye-watering $700. Ouch. That’s now more expensive than a flight or renting a car, as well as being less convenient.
It’s a shame. The average person is just going to rent a car and call it a day. I’m not sure what the solution is, but I’d like to see the more environmentally-friendly option be incentivized. Maybe it has to do with a lack of competition. As well, I’m sure it doesn’t help that Via doesn’t own 97% of the track it uses.
Some time later, I realized that “adult” tickets are for 26 and up. Choosing “youth” tickets (12-25) brought the total price down to $470. That’s not fun, but fine, I’ll take it.
A Toronto-Montreal train will never be the quickest option (we don’t have high-speed rail). It won’t be the most comfortable option either (you do have to share the train). It could compete on convenience. I’m sure people would love to hear that they don’t have to worry about gas, parking or traffic. But in my opinion, it has to compete on price to get lots of people to use it. This is a shift I’d love to see, but I know it’s unlikely to happen any time soon.