HOW HAS THE CANCELLATION OF THE NORTHLANDER TRAIN AFFECTED YOU?
Comment l’annulation du Northlander vous a impacté?

Name / Nom: Margaret Perrault
Comments / Commentaires: Used to take the train regularly to visit relatives in Hamilton. Arriving in Toronto, went to the lower floor, walked across the street and got a bus that took me to my final destination. That go bus was convenient, but one hour on it was sufficient. Like many people who have had a knee replacement, sitting for long periods of time is not good, and the train always afforded the opportunity to get up and walk a bit. There is no comparison between bus and train travel. We northern Senior’s deserve better………

Name / Nom: Lee Bryan
Comments / Commentaires: As a non driver who moved to Port Carling from Toronto in 2005, I unhappily endured the uncomfortable 3+ hr bus ride back home for visits for several years. I restricted my frequency of trips solely because I detested the bus ride.

In 2009, someone finally mentioned that there was rail travel available from Bracebridge, & I was thrilled to try that option.

After my first trip to Toronto, I was ECSTATIC, & raved about the service to everyone I know! The entire trip was exactly 2 hours, which is the same or better than driving in a car! Even with occasionally delays on the tracks, not one single trip ever took longer than 2.5 hrs. Additionally, the leg room, ease of movement around & between cars…all phenomenal. To top it off, the conductors & other staff were ALL friendly & helpful, in stark contrast to the mostly miserable, nasty bus drivers.

From 2010 onward, my trips to Toronto became much more frequent, at least 8/yr, solely because it was so painless on the train. On the bus, I refused to go more than 3x/yr, & guess what? That’s what I’m back to now. 😦 The bus is horrible, & compared to the previous rail travel, completely unacceptable.

The biggest problem I experienced with the train service is that it took four years to hear about it!

Name / Nom: Marilee Koenderink
Comments / Commentaires: My story may not be unique as I frequently used Via Rail. I used it to go back and forth to London Ontario to school to get my B.ScN at Western. I used it afterward to go back and forward to Toronto to get my M.Ed. I travelled after that for work related meetings..until I could not as it was not available. Then I used a personal vehicle and contributed to global warming. Our adult children cannot come home by train – they use personal vehicles or fly and we pick them up from Toronto or Sudbury or North Bay. They have travelled in the last few years from Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury and Thunder Bay – we sure could have used the train. Please consider the benefits of public transit and draft a sound business plan to see if “Via” can come back to our area.

Name / Nom: Tony Turrittin
Comments / Commentaires: We’ve always wanted to take the Polar Bear Express to Moosonee as a holiday.  Our plan was to take the Northlander to Cochrane, stay overnight and continue by train to James Bay.  It was on our backpack list of destinations to experience.  As seniors taking long drives is difficult for us.  So when the Northlander was cancelled that’s pulled the shade down on this trip to northern Ontario for us.