VIA Workers on Strike

Not to count the approximately 15,000 Mexicans that visit Toronto every year. Most of them in the summer. Lots of them had their tickets bought and suddenly they couldn't get into Canada. There's at least 1 month wait at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City for visas. People that had their tickets bought couldn't take the trip.
That's 20,000 people that won't be coming to Toronto anymore, not like they're missing much with all the garbage and disruptions, though.

Striking? Take the train long distance has become a novelty. The price is on par with flying, it can be slightly more convenient.

BUT if you want to push the last of your customers/riders to fly, SO BE IT!!!

That's probably why porter added 25% discounts today.
I don't know the via workers situation.
So i won't comment on their validity, but i do think the strike will hurt the industry, their bosses and the workers themselves. I love trains and wish they were a viable method of transportation, but their significance is always shrinking.

Correction: VIA Engineers on strike. For the rest of the ~3000 unionized VIA employees, it's layoff and EI as of tomorrow.

Ya well my taxes prop up highways and parking spaces even though I don't drive, so I guess we're even.

I'm confused. Am I supposed to be trying to "forget for a moment" or trying to "keep believing the crap the social engineers in City Hall". Not sure if I'll have time today to do both

Sounds like you've got serious issues with car ownership, You should go on strike with yourself, you'll show yourself a thing or two about taxes and driving.

Looks like I've struck a nerve amongst the economically-challenged. From the city's own confused books, $33 million in NET revenues are made from parking tickets, while another $54 million in NET revenues are made from parking, but are those profits shown against the transportation budget? Nope.
Since the TTC gets 11% of the budget, while transportation only gets 5%, it's easy to see that driver's are being fleeced, considering far more people drive than take transit. So, while it looks like hundreds of millions are being spent on roads and traffic, really the number is far less when these revenues are added back in.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with paying my fair share, but let's dispell the myths. The city would be more bankrupt than it already is without motorists to fleece annually.
I am not beating up on truckers, since my dad worked for Manitoulin for many years, but those with axes to grind like to believe that if automobiles disappeared tomorrow, all the roads could be dug up and gardens planted instead.
Accountants, like lawyers, can play with reality. The choice is for sheeple to not believe those numbers and look beyond them. But the bicycle/transit lobby will have none of that.

All I am saying is that if the budgets were honest, we'd see that 'public' transit is a big sink hole, whether it's Via, Go or the TTC and that motorists more than pay their fair share. However, that is not the way the city's books play this game.

The parking garages can only charge what the market will bear, unlike the TTC and Via which are monopolies and can charge the users or the taxpayes whatever they want.
I only pay $80 a month in parking because I live downtown, but those who live in the (gasp) suburbs and want to drive to work would pay $200+. I am just using average figures.

Economically challenged? Your the one whining about how much you have to pay.

What makes you think that 100% of the money earned from you driving a car has to go back into transportation and the roads? Its a business they can run it however they like.

Whining about what I have to pay? Perhaps you missed the remark about 'average driver.' I understand owning a car is more and I accept that. It's the mythology passed along by the social engineers in City Hall that somehow motorists get a free ride when, in fact, it's the TTC, Via and Go that suck at the public teat.
Less than $400 million is poured into the transportation budget, yet the TTC gets 3 or 4 times that (when you factor in capital expenses.) It's the way the accountants (as dictated by their masters in city hall) fudge the numbers. If the 'net' amounts that motorists in the 416 area pay into the system of taxes only on their vehicles was properly accounted for, it is of a net benefit to the city. The same cannot be said of the TTC, Go or Via. That is a fact.
I am not saying that should change, I am merely stating what should be obvious, but obviously is not because people around here have swallowed the party line.

<blockquote><i>"The parking garages can only charge what the market will bear"</i>...</blockquote>
<p>...and thus will charge more as demand increases. In the absence of GO and VIA, the demand for parking downtown would necessarily rise.</p>

Regardless of who built it, that new parking would be on the most expensive land in the GTA. And the significant competitive market would not consist of parking lot operators trying to offer the lowest possible rates to motorists: it would be motorists competing for the best possible parking spaces.

You would have to pay more for parking if there were no local or regional transit. Thus, transit reduces the operating cost of your car.

Now that the strike is over, Via just sent out an email offering 60% off for all Economy & Business class trips between now and Dec. 14.

You Gotta book by 11:59pm July 29th to get the discount.

Its a pretty good deal, I booked a round-trip from Toronto to London for less than $50 with tax which is cheaper than Greyhound.

My name is Jule NOT Julie you fail...again...

My bad, Jule. You must be in politics: attack one little mistake to avoid the greater issue and logic.
Find flaws in my argument, not in my ability to discern one fake handle over another.