Flixbus, now in 3 provinces, wants to connect Canada in the wake of Greyhound's demise (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 20 hours ago by ValueSubtracted@startrek.website to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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[-] engene@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 hours ago

I’ve done bus tours in Europe and found them to be quite comfortable 👍🏼

[-] Luci@lemmy.ca 17 points 19 hours ago

Why not trains?

[-] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 3 points 19 hours ago

Outside of the major commuter routes between large cities, the demand isn't really there.

[-] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 19 points 17 hours ago

Rail has always been a chicken/egg problem

Where was the density to justify a coast to coast railroad in the mid 1800s?

If you build it, they will come

[-] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 5 points 16 hours ago

I'm all for the Alto project being a runaway success and spurring nationwide high-speed rail development, make no mistake.

[-] Luci@lemmy.ca 3 points 19 hours ago

That’s too bad

[-] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 6 points 18 hours ago

It is, and maybe it will change some day, but there's a reason intercity rail is concentrated almost entirely in the Toronto - Quebec City corridor - nowhere else in the country has the population density to justify it (though maybe the Calgary-Edmonton route will get to that point one day).

[-] Luci@lemmy.ca 5 points 18 hours ago

Hey now, that corridor goes all the way to Windsor and you know it

Don’t leave KW/Guelph outta it, we got GO trains sometimes!

But yea, you’re right. I’d love to take the train everywhere but I really am stuck with 401 alternative only.

[-] rbos@lemmy.ca 4 points 18 hours ago

I'm pretty confident the Vancouver-Hope corridor could support commuter rail as well. Maybe Victoria to Nanaimo.

[-] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 2 points 18 hours ago

That would make sense - I was thinking there were probably some viable BC options, but I honestly never hear people talking about them.

[-] rbos@lemmy.ca 4 points 18 hours ago

Personally I never shut up about it!

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 20 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

While I'm glad to see some intercity busses again, I'd rather it be a Canadian owned company (whose owners pay their taxes in Canada). That said, I prefer a European foreign owner to an American one.

[-] kbal@fedia.io 10 points 18 hours ago

It's not as if Greyhound was ever all that luxurious but the one Flixbus ride I took had airplane-grade seating, really cramped and horrible for someone of just slightly above-average size..

[-] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 7 points 18 hours ago

Yeah, the article doesn't make it sound like an appealing experience.

One of these latest routes is a trip between the Calgary International Airport and Banff. While Boysan said the company targets customers from all walks of life, most passengers on this trip were backpackers in their early twenties who'd chosen the bus for one reason only.