VIA president at Montreal Board of Trade

[Tom Box [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

VIA's president spoke to the Montreal Board of Trade (Chambre
de Commerce) today (Tuesday, Sept 30). I hope the text of the
speech will be posted on the VIA web site, at
<http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/media-room/speeches>,
but I don't see it there yet.

Still no transcript, but there is now a video on YouTube of part
of the speech:

It's mostly in
French, though the visual aids are bilingual and there are
occasional short sections in English.

As reported in the news stories cited in my previous message,
the president says he wants to have dedicated tracks for
passenger trains. It'd be nice, but I don't see much prospect
for it in the near future.

At least twice, he says "Le contribuable canadien en a assez
donné" (The Canadian taxpayer has given enough), which indicates
he doesn't plan to ask the federal government for more money.
He talks about financing from provincial and municipal
governments, a nice idea in theory -- especially when some
cities and provinces benefit from VIA much more than others --
but difficult in practice when provinces and cities are facing
bigger financial challenges than the federal government. He
also talks about financing by private investors, and mentions
how Ontario pension funds have bought a 30-year concession to
run the HS1 line between London and the Chunnel. Unfortunately,
I don't see much hope of private investment in passenger trains
in Canada unless there's a radical change in government
transport policy to make trains more competitive.

Tom Box
tbox at ncf dot ca
Port Hope, ON, Canada


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[Tom Box [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Post by Tom Box tbox-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]

VIA's president spoke to the Montreal Board of Trade (Chambre
de Commerce) today (Tuesday, Sept 30). I hope the text of the
speech will be posted on the VIA web site, at
<http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/media-room/speeches>,
but I don't see it there yet.

Still no transcript, but there is now a video on YouTube of part
of the speech: http://youtu.be/BCet1hGorRM

Now the transcript is there: <http://goo.gl/JaPXAP> or
<http://www.viarail.ca/sites/all/files/media/pdfs/About_VIA/our-company/media-room/speeches/2014/Transcript-CCMM_YDS_2014-09-30_EN.pdf>.
Though the actual presentation was mostly in French, this
transcript has been translated into English. There are some
bits that weren't included in the YouTube video that I
referenced yesterday, but that are in the transcript.

The president said "From Montréal to Québec City, Ottawa or
Toronto, there are 21 departures daily." Counting them up, I
only find 17 on weekdays, 10 on Saturday and 13 on Sunday.
The statement was made as part of a claim that frequency is
a reason to take the train. While frequencies to Quebec and
Ottawa have improved over the low point in 1990, they're still
much lower than bus and airline frequencies to the same
destinations.

The president says that nearly two-thirds of VIA customers are
women. I'm a little surprised that it's so far from a 50-50
split. He says that 75% of the passengers on the Canadian are
Canadians. Again, I'm a little surprised the fraction is that
high, though I'm well aware that the claim that almost all
passengers are foreign tourists is wildly exaggerated. 92% of
the passengers on the Ocean are Canadians, and that doesn't
surprise me at all.

Tom Box
tbox at ncf dot ca
Port Hope, ON, Canada


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Posted by: Tom Box <tbox-***@public.gmane.org>
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[Knut [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

I wonder how Via would know that?

Nobody ever asked me about my nationality when I took a Via train.

Post by Tom Box tbox-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]
He says that 75% of the passengers on the Canadian are
Canadians. Again, I'm a little surprised the fraction is that
high, though I'm well aware that the claim that almost all
passengers are foreign tourists is wildly exaggerated. 92% of
the passengers on the Ocean are Canadians, and that doesn't
surprise me at all..

[xcnken-/[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

At times the claims Via's corporate executives come up with are so outlandish. Like the other morning on Mike Finnerty' s CBC Daybreak programme.


When a comparison was made as to how Porter airlines offers downtown convenience between here and Toronto at around $300.- in one hour and twenty minutes. Versus Via's four hour and forty minute schedule at over $ 300.- in Business class .


He ( Siciliano ) said you can spend the trip snoozoing or surfing the web.


As Mike Finnerty inferred.........." for four hours ? "


Duhhhhhhhhh.......

[Tom Box [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Post by Knut knut-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]

He [VIA president Yves Desjardins-Siciliano] says that 75%
of the passengers on the Canadian are Canadians. [...] 92%
of the passengers on the Ocean are Canadians

I wonder how Via would know that?
Nobody ever asked me about my nationality when I took a Via
train.

I've been asked about my nationality when booking a trip on the
Maple Leaf or the now-vanished International, but not on other
VIA trains. In the numbers I quoted above, I suspect they're
talking about country of residence, rather than citizenship.
On several occasions, I've filled out VIA surveys (linked to a
specfic trip) that asked me where I live. My address is part
of my VIA Preference profile, which is linked to all my
reservations. Most people probably pay by credit card these
days, and while I don't know exactly what information that
provides to the seller, it might allow VIA to determine the
country where the card account is located. Those are just
some ways VIA could find out where its passengers live.

Tom Box
tbox at ncf dot ca
Port Hope, ON, Canada


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Posted by: Tom Box <tbox-***@public.gmane.org>
------------------------------------

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