Via Rail - I Don’t Understand

I I would think I have travelled between Sudbury and Vancouver Island in the past 15 years more than most people excepting those who travel for work or for business. I have gone by car, bus, train and air.  While the train is slow and its timetable on occasion should be filed under fiction as as opposed to fact, it is by far the most relaxing way to travel. I think more people would travel by train if it were not so damn expensive. Flying is can be cheaper although given my last experience not that much more reliable.

I bought both my Air Canada ticket from Nanaimo to Sudbury and my train ticket from Sudbury to Vancouver in mid October. The cost for my flight for the beginning of December was $370.00 including choosing a more expensive seat to accommodate my long legs. If I wanted to buy a comparable seat to fly a few days after Christmas it would cost somewhere between $1201 and $2000 depending upon which time of day I travelled. My Via Rail ticket cost $406. And if I wanted to buy a ticket for the same train this morning it would cost $883.

I can understand air fare costing more to fly during the Christmas season in that it is a busy travelling season and air seats are in demand. I also understand that there should be a slight increase in cost the closer one gets to the flying time. But I think that a 300% increase in cost probably could be labelled at the very least as an unfair tax on procrastinators or more likely as gouging. However, as I am sure the plane will be fully booked, one can only assume that it is Air Canada’s pricing policies are, if nothing else, good business practice.

It is less easy to understand Via Rail’s business policies. The economy section of the train in my experience (I have taken the train across at least part of the country six or seven times)has never been full. This has meant that I, for most of the nights that I have slept on a train, have had both seats to myself. It has been great. I love having the space and the privacy to spread my stuff out and to move around adjusting my position as I nap, read or listen to music.But the economy section of the train is so empty because it is quite frequently the most expensive way to travel (Christmas time is one of the exceptions to that rule). I don’t understand why Via would double the cost of the ticket  when they can’t sell all the seats at the lower price. Would it not make more sense to keep the tickets cheaper and fill the seats? I realize that I am arguing against what is best for me, but I do fear that the time will come when Via Rail will reduce its service even further with the argument that not enough people are using it.

Canada needs a transcontinental passenger rail services. It should be increasing the number of trains a week not decreasing. While there are a number of  sleeping cars (along with assorted dome, club and dining cars)for those passengers who have lots of money, there are only two economy cars (plus a dome car). If Via Rail kept the price of tickets down, they could fill a third car for very little cost. Lord knows there is not a lot of service provided to “cheap seats” passengers.

Clearly I am not a business person and therefore I am unable to understand how companies work. But it seems to me that it is better to have all the seats full as opposed to have being empty - unless of course Via Rail intentionally keeps half of the seats empty so that people like me can be comfortable….. if you believe that - I know of a bridge for sale.

Looking for the Answers

It may be my imagination - or perhaps I am just feeling old, but it seems to me that there was a time when it was easier to know what was right or wrong - that life was more easily divided into good and bad.  It is not that these dividing lines were always morally correct - for example in Alabama in the 1950s it was “right” or normal that people of different racial backgrounds had to drink out of separate, labeled water fountains or in Canada it was assumed that people of certain ethnic origins should be incarcerated during the various wars of the 20th century. But given the available information and awareness of the times - it was easy to know what was right. It was easy in part because all that people had to do was to believe what their political and religious leaders told them.

Because of postmodernist thinking and globalization in general, life and therefore knowing right from wrong is far more complicated in 2016. There are no easy or obvious solutions to major environmental, economic or political crises - at least for those who think carefully and critically. They know that those who designate themselves as political or religious leaders whether they be on the right or the left are just as likely to be wrong as anyone else. Consequently we are obliged to find our own “right” answers. Most of us are sorely ill prepared to do so.

Example #1:

I have argued elsewhere that one of the ways to stop the apparently endless wars/revolutions/punitive dictatorships it to stop selling (and therefore stop manufacturing) weapons. Simple. Get rid of all the guns and tanks and bombs and at least part of the problem goes away. Canada could start by closing down the factories that make armoured vehicles, bombs and guns (see Ploughshares). However if the Canadian government did that - the thousands of people who worked in those factories or were supported in some fashion by those factories would (1) need other  jobs and (2) be so pissed off that they might vote for a more conservative government and we have already been down that path. Finding well paid jobs, especially for the older workforce is difficult. Do we really want all of those folks to be working at Wal-Mart or the corner store?

Example #2

Clearly the tar sands are terrible for the environment. There is nothing positive one can say about the destruction of the natural environment and the inherent risk to animals and to water sources. The problems only become  exacerbated when one takes that oil, ship it thousands of kilometres to be refined and then it use to heat our houses or transport ourselves and the goods that we we use. Close the damn thing down and tear up the pipelines. Oops - the same problem as the first example - people lose jobs, their houses and can’t feed their children. They get angry and vote for a political party that does not see the environment or climate change as being important. If we cut off the oil and thereby hurt people  and perhaps end up with worse policies four years down the road- who profits by such changes?

Example #3

I think that recycling our broken or out of date electronics is a good thing. I, for a number of years religiously deposited my old computers or printers in large bins labeled for those products. Then I found out that most of that stuff got sent to China where people melt down the plastics, reclaim the metals and in the process pollute the water and air around them. My conscience is clear- I have done the right thing - but in reality all that I have done is pass the problem and the pollution on to someone else. That was not my intention.

It is well past time for the rational people of all political spectrums to stop spouting whatever crap they are told to repeat and to start to think for themselves.  As long as we believe that there are absolute answers to the questions - we will never come close to resolving the issues.

I don’t know what the answers are. Perhaps 2017 will be the year when we collectively, as a country, decide that we need to find out.