Via Rail web page still a bureaucratic blob

[dumpthemonarchy]

Via Rail, like some gov't agencies, just doesn't get it. I punch a Vancouver to Toronto itinerary and get a result saying the train does not operate on that day. Well duh. Can't these losers make a chart of fares so viewers can get a ballpark figure. Obviously not. An A+ for a vague unclear focus, marketing prowess F.

Earth to Via, we all need money, put the cash outlay out front. Gotta be a Rolls Royce crowd here, they say if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.

https://reservia.viarail.ca/search.aspx

 

[karrie]

apparently they prefer you contact a travel agent.

I tried numerous times on their site too... it doesn't work.

 

[talloola]

I've had good luck looking up all sorts of info. re: via rail. as we are interested in travelling from vancouver to toronto to halifax, and (although it took me awhile to get the hang of it), I worked out dates/times/fares, with different choices etc.
When I asked travel agent about rail travel, they said best thing to do is go online and get info, as they didn't have
much at all.
a) found different ways to travel, @ different rates
b)found different fares for different age groups, etc.
c)found out all the days and times trains left all different locales.
d)found out different fares for different types of accomodations, and sleeping quarters etc.
e)found a place where they will set up itineraries and give side trips and places to go.
f)found the different trains, and their descriptions.
and probably more that I can't remember

 

[lone wolf]

VIA Rail was incorporated to kill the rail passenger business in Canada.

 

[scratch]

VIA Rail was incorporated to kill the rail passenger business in Canada.

True, cartage pays better.

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

Kind of revealing how the bureaucratic mind works. Unless you know exactly what you want, the bureaucracy is indifferent. The term user friendly have not permeated the bureaucracy yet. Oooh, our information is so valuable, we must always protect it. A good reason why gov't should not be in the business of selling anything to the public that requires marketing. Via is selling holidays, we don't have to use them, the police are different.

Here Via Rail keeps its rail prices under wraps. Comic. Not to mention schedules too. Seems to me Via has outlived its usefulness. They've had plenty of time to reform.

It's a gimme world, gimme all your prices and schedules so I can plan my life.

 

[lone wolf]

VIA is great advertisement - for the bus companies and airlines. Really, that's a crime because we're still in hock for the train.

 

[karrie]

c)found out all the days and times trains left all different locales.

I could find everything BUT this. Please tall, tell how you found this!

 

[talloola]

I could find everything BUT this. Please tall, tell how you found this!

OK, I've been scrambling, and I can't find it either, so, it must have been one of the
help messages I sent them, from the via rail help page, as I did that a couple of times,
and they were back to me within a couple of days, with answers to all of my questions,
or, where to find the answer.

I haven't been through their web site for awhile now, so, my memory isn't quite on top
of it, but I'm going to get familiarized with it again.
I filled out a couple of reservation dates/times/ etc. type of accomodation, transferring
to the other train at , and same for the other train that goes from Montreal to
Halifax, and they showed all of the times/accomodations/and total cost for all.

For seniors, some of the trips give a travelling companion free passage, or, almost
free, and seeing the train is so so expensive, it makes it possible to do a trip, otherwise
the cost would be way out of our reach.