SultanOfSwing

Killing the motorist in the second largest country in the world

Railway operators are going to be rubbing their hands with delight, I would assume.

scrubbedexpat091

Not sure the freight rail roads care , and in BC only passenger rail we have is public transit with the sky train, and West Coast Express but both are government funded transit...... I don't see any private companies lining up to build rail for passengers anytime soon if ever.

You won't see the tolls or per km tolls outside of the metro area's, but since most live in the metro area's, driving in said area's will not be the norm in the future which is what the government want's. Same reason they don't build freeways here for the most part, the government want's driving to not be desirable.

Other provinces no clue what they plan. Just talking about Lower Mainland of BC and possibly the Island, but they are already burdened with high ferry costs.

SultanOfSwing

I was thinking in Amtrack mode there, I forgot that Canada operates a different rail system. D'Oh. The freight guys will truck on regardless, nothing but Canadien National and CSX trains/rail cars down this way. Mile-and-a-half long trains that'll have you sitting for 10 minutes when you're trying to run out for lunch . Then I go all the way up to Dawson Creek, BC and what do I see? A bunch of Wisconsin Central cars sitting in a siding. I like trains ...

The tolls round here are annoying, but inconsistent enough that one can avoid them easily enough. Most of my interstate driving is in Wisconsin anyway and they have no tolls, luckily.

scrubbedexpat091

So far they are only tolling the new bridges, but they keep bringing up distance tolling, so it's only a matter of time.

In this town we only get CN, they have a small rail yard here still. This town used to be a big rail road town back in BC Rail day's but that was before my time here.

In Summer a tourist train passes through.

Vancouver see's Amtrak 2 times a day I want to say, service to Seattle and points in between. We have better passenger rail to the US then we do for within Canada in BC....lol

CP obviously in parts of BC as well, and I know there is at least 1 US freight line that comes up, but I can't recall which one it is.

CN through town here is nearly always just pulling lumber, and the occasional box car.

SultanOfSwing

The only reason we see the huge freight trains here is because one of the largest and busiest switching yards in the US happens to be in Chicago, so we get a lot of trains coming from the north on their way to the yard. It was something I got used to quickly, but imagine how it was for me the first time I was here, coming from Northern Ireland, where a 5-car passenger train is considered long and unusual (2 or 3 car trains are the norm there)

I think the rail network, more specifically the local networks, in North America is grossly underused. Not sure how it is in Canada but getting the train back home was something I just did knowing I could get where I wanted to with relative ease and not just to and from Belfast. Here, local rail sucks which is terrible since I live less than a mile away from a station. If I want to go out for a drink without having to drive, for example, I am limited to only those stops on a line from my town into Chicago; unless I want to drive to another station and park there (defeats the purpose), or get a taxi to another station (adds cost), or go all the way into Chicago to change lines.

scrubbedexpat091

Passenger rail as a whole sucks here as well. Places like Vancouver and Toronto and probably Montreal have decent subway/light rail, but majority of the country has no rail for passengers at all.

Via Rail in ON and Quebec offers decent daytime passenger rail, but not something you'd use to get home from a bar, it's geared towards commuters.

Greater Toronto has the GO Train which isn't too bad, heavy commuter rail.

Vancouver also has a heavy commuter rail, but its limited M-F (no holiday service) and 4 trains in the AM and 4 in the PM (could be 5 trains, but limited to one direction in the AM and opposite in the PM.)

Cross country rail is limited to the Canadian on Via, runs 2 or 3 times a week if I recall. Vancouver to Toronto. From Toronto there is service to Atlantic Canada I think there is still anyhow.

Edmonton and Calgary have light rail, but I don't recall either being too useful and rather limited.

SultanOfSwing

That seems to be the way of things here. Within the city limits, there's usually an adequate subway of L-train setup. Get into the suburbs and you can get to and from the major city but not to and from suburbs and satellite towns unless they are on the same line. If you live anywhere semi-rural or rural - lol **** you ...

Don't know how my mate in Alberta will fare if gas prices become prohibitive. He's over 500km from Edmonton, the closest (minor) cities to him are Grand Prairie and Fort St. John and they're both over 100km away. He works as a paramedic in a hospital about 25km away. I've been up to visit him and it's remote. You can't do anything without driving.

scrubbedexpat099

Lay your own track?

Couple of us are going to buy one of these:

dc koop

It's only temporary anyway. The price will continue to drop no matter what.

Around 80 cents in every gallon is State tax in California.


The airlines don't seem to be lowering their fares. They were quick enough to raise them when oil was at it's highest

scrubbedexpat091

Maybe drop in California.... The more oil drops the more our dollar drops and that leads to little or no cost savings for us.

Taxes including carbon tax runs 21.17 to 32.17 cents per liter depending where in BC you are, Victoria and Metro Vancouver pay the highest taxes, everyone else pays the lower amount. In theory regions like where I am should be paying less then Vancouver does since we have 10 cent less per liter in taxes, but reality is the gas companies just charge the Vancouver price or 1 cent less then Vancouver.....


Also have 5% GST on the total price.

dc koop

I have friends in Osoyoos, BC. They nip across the border to fill up

lansbury

There was a bit on the news last night said west coast refineries have cut production and to expect some more price raises.

scrubbedexpat091

Yes, that is a big cross border business for the smaller crossings, savings can still be had, but its fairly small now, and may or may not be worth crossing.

I live to far from the border to hop over for gas, but we on occasion go down for cheese and butter and parcel pick up, 2 weeks ago, after you account for the exchange rate there was a 17 cent difference, still can save if you have a SUV or large tank, for our little car it is a 3.75 less to fill up south of the border vs in Canada, use more gas to get there...lol


Now the price on the US side varies considerably small town to small town, and this is based on pt. Roberts vs Vancouver region.

dc koop

A few years ago I stayed for a few days in Loughlin, Nevada. The price per gallon back then was high but just the other side of the river in Bullhead city, AZ was almost 75 cents a gallon cheaper.

I was surprised to see people in Loughlin filling up in Loughlin instead of taking the half mile trip. I guess money is no object with some people or maybe they've been brainwashed into believing that Nevada gas makes cars run better then Arizona gas

dc koop

Yes they like to cut production and schedule maintenance when the profits aren't high enough. That's always been a game with the oil companies in California. I'm just wondering when our Governor Jerry Clown decides to jack up the State tax on a gallon.

Anybody from California reading this remember the days of electrical power deregulation when people from Enron in Texas were calling the power plants in California asking them to close down for maintenance?

You cant imagine the rackets and the manipulation going on no matter hard you might try