Train #641 is being introduced starting May 27th, 2024, which departs Ottawa at 4:15, Kingston at 6:15, arriving in Toronto at 8:48am, which would be useful for anyone trying to get into a Toronto downtown office at 9am.
Train #641 is being introduced starting May 27th, 2024, which departs Ottawa at 4:15, Kingston at 6:15, arriving in Toronto at 8:48am, which would be useful for anyone trying to get into a Toronto downtown office at 9am.
(All prices $CA)
Yes. If you were commuting from Oshawa or closer you’d use GO so this train doesn’t stop there anyway. It’s quite cheap, arrives frequently so you won’t have to book a seat and convenient.
I agree that not having a railpass/multi-ticket since Covid really sucks for Via. They recently changed their entire reservation system so maybe they will bring it back in a year or two.
Where this train is competitive is for business people I think. The base price from Ottawa to Toronto is $60, and the most expensive Business class fare with lounge access and a meal is $150. Compared to flying, sure its 1/3 of the flight time not including security and getting to the airport and boarding and getting out of the airport (which is especially rough if you pick YYZ), but you are pretty miserable and it costs $280 similarly booked in advance in El Cheapo class. Comparing the two when booking last minute (if seats are available) you have up to $331 in business class by train or $580 in economy plane seats. If you know you’re going to commute you can book at least a week in advance which generally doesn’t sell out or get overpriced so long as it’s not a holiday weekend, whereas flight prices need about 3 weeks to be ideal.
As an addendum, compared to driving, I think even just considering gas it’s cheaper and faster to get from station to station by train (and most businesses people would hire a ride on both legs if time was more of an issue) Depending on how far out your actual start and end points are the car might make sense but really, train travel is the least stressful of the 3.
Commuting:
If we’re comparing the price and convenience of “commuting” by plane versus VIA Rail… erh… do people regularly take a plane to work?
I mean, yes, it can be in competition with planes for this kind of distance but… commuters?! Like, going to work a few times a week using VIA Rail, and we’re comparing it to taking a plane… to work?! And even if we compare driving the whole road instead of driving to a station; who is going to bother booking tickets days in advance for a few times a week in order to be able to drive to a train station? If you just buy the cheapest ticket for going to work one morning and miss your train, you can’t even use that ticket for the next train! Gotta pay extra for that privilege!
I really, really can’t understand the “commuting” part. Maybe if someone goes to the office once a week and doesn’t mind having like, 2 or 3 departures to come back home, it can be a nice addition… but… relying on VIA Rail to go to work, on a regular basis?! What kind of mad person would do that?
I can’t really vouch for every part of the argument your acquaintance on Twitter, such that it’s “mainly” made for commuting. Like I laid out earlier, it’s more geared for business as clients and employers would be the ones expecting you to be in Toronto downtown by 9am for one reason or another. There are manager type of roles that need to travel as frequently as once a week between two cities, that’s still commuting in my eyes. A Monday to Friday 9 hour round trip commute would be utterly insane, that’s a quarter of your week gone. I’d have to be paid big bucks to put up with that.
Then again: One summer I did take a Via roundtrip every weekend (using a very nice pass deal at the time ofc) and I’d consider that commuting also.
Sidenote: In the morning Via in the corridor is very reliably on time. It’s usually in the afternoon and evening when Via sees cascading delays by freight traffic.