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It might be web ads. I agree that it's a bit strange -- you could argue it's kind of pre-emptive advertising for the service (I get a ton of Via ads online so I have a good sense of what they're like), but are people really going to remember an HFR ad from 2019 when they're travelling in, say...

This argument seems basically identical to the people who argue that road diets raise GHG emissions due to having more cars idling at lights. A modicum of planning knowledge tells us this isn't true, because infrastructure induces demand -- a new, more remote airport opens up with cheaper fees...

That must be what's being referred to, since as far as I know (and would imagine) the Newmarket Sub is unchanged since then, and of course there can't be any problems with the Bala Sub through Washago. In NB as far as I know the right of way is intact and the rest of the connecting tracks are...

The worst part, in my opinion, is the way major projects like this tend to be sequential. HFR will be used as an excuse that "something is being done about Via Rail" while ignoring other routes, the other part of the Corridor, etc. Meanwhile very likely little or no progress on bringing...

The biggest disappointment with flexity design for me is the set of 4 facing seats. When 4 people are actually sitting in the seats it feels much more cramped than the comparable seats on most buses. And while the lack of seats in general compared to buses is good for cyclists and mobility...

The problem here is that communities die out if their services are taken away. Being from the North I've seen the vast difference between communities that lose services (often purely due to government structure and political machinations/clout) and communities that don't. Once a small town in...

This is unfortunate but pretty typical of the way Ontario Northland gets shafted by the province, and the way in turn that ONTC screws northern communities. Cutting a bus route that serves three reserves that form its core ridership, with absolutely no warning and giving local communities no...

I'm not talking about drivers as a narrow slice, I'm talking about drivers who are willing to use transit even occasionally as a narrow slice. This is really only common in the GTA where taking transit into Toronto is normalized, but taking transit just to get around isn't. But in a lot of...

I think it's impossible to generalize for all of Europe, but I think a defining trait at least in many urban areas isn't necessarily that there aren't aggressive drivers pulling crazy moves -- it's that they often don't have the insulated obliviousness of North American drivers in oversized...

This really is a huge problem. It feels like Metrolinx/GO has for decades tried to target a very narrow slice of the population: people who own cars but sometimes don't want to drive them (implicitly, into Toronto). What it does in practice is reinforce the Toronto-centric hub-and-spoke model...

Sadly north America seems to think signs are a substitute for slowing down and restricting car traffic, as well as simple common sense.

I feel the same way about a lot of 4-lane urban streets. Even if it's not going to happen much any time soon, we need a cultural shift away from lane inflation, especially around intersections. First there's 4 laning, then turning lanes, then left turns are basically impossible for getting into...

You nailed it. A lot of people in North America seem to think every rail service needs its own corridor and I think this misconception is a product of the freight railways neglecting infrastructure and the long consists and lack of sidings. Companies also have an incentive to flip the table and...

Welcome to Ontario. This place sucks.

Your argument has validity as well, but I don't think it should be taken to the extreme it currently is. Smaller cities and towns having horrible transit is a major factor in internal migration to larger centres, and ultimately facilitates the decay of smaller cities and selects for them to be...

I don't think ION platforms are 6m wide and the shelters on them are pretty cramped, but ION stations are also pretty barebones compared to the proposed ones for Toronto LRT projects. Several of them do have heaters, though the wind chill factor coming in through the doorway probably just about...

The real kicker here is that Avignon has under 300,000 people, while cities under 300,000 people in Canada can barely hold down a bus network.

I think there's also an argument for decent shelter design aside from heaters, but it's tough to try to squeeze a proper sealed shelter that doesn't let wind pass through onto an island platform.

We won't get anywhere if we treat transit purely as a response to pent up demand. Transit induces demand just like auto infrastructure does, and the better service is the more demand is created for it. Frequent intercity transit between two important cities is a basic aspect of infrastructure...

Yeah, and having a passenger-oriented line owned by friendly agencies all the way to London would help with otherwise pie-in-the-sky schemes like having DMUs provide frequent service to the smaller communities and towns in between...