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Transport Action wants to see all public transport operators make efforts to make multi-mode passenger travel relaxing and trouble free, with assured connections and interline ticketing. Therefore, we were pleased to meet with Pierre Santoni, VIA Rail’s Director of Intermodal Passenger Transportation Partnerships, in Montreal and by hybrid meeting on August 22, 2024 to discuss VIA Rail’s plans and our previous submissions on this subject, with a follow-up meeting on August 30.
Rather than seeing buses as “the enemy” as was sometimes the case when Greyhound dominated the Canadian bus landscape and lobbied against rail investments, VIA Rail under the leadership of Mario Péloquin sees motorcoach companies who are willing to work with rail as partners in the effort to make sustainable public transportation available to all Canadians and to jointly win hearts and minds from the culture of automobile dependency.
Terry Johnson (President), Peter Miasek (President, Transport Action Ontario) and Michael Olivier (Team lead – Intercity Bus) followed up on recommendations including inviting motorcoach operators to use the Winnipeg station, featured in our submission to the House of Commons transportation committee’s study of intercity bus services; and regarding improved public transport links to Canada’s national parks, as mentioned in the Minister of Transport’s mandate letter and discussed in VIA Rail’s corporate plan.
Pierre Santoni was able to brief us on a number of ongoing efforts to increase the utilisation of VIA Rail stations by connecting motorcoach services, and we were pleased to learn that VIA Rail has engaged a highly respected veteran in the bus Canadian industry to assist in the development of these relationships. Several projects are the subject of active negotiations and details will be forthcoming in due course once agreed between the parties.
The recent change to the Ocean’s schedule that disrupted connection with regional bus services was discussed, and we were encouraged to hear that VIA Rail is committed to improving communication with bus companies when circumstances such as host railway delays require schedule changes.
While the switch to the new reservation system led to previous intermodal connections being removed from ReserVIA to simplify the system upgrade, train fares continued to be available alongside bus connections through BusBud.com, and both companies are working to deepen this relationship. We were pleased to learn that VIA Rail is also exploring the reintroduction of onward bus connections on its own website in the longer term.
Improving connections and interline ticketing between bus and rail are aligned with Transport Action’s recommendations to the House of Commons transport committee’s study Inter-City Transport by Bus in Canada in 2022.