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From: majka@ubc-vision.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: definitions of culture
Message-ID: <399@ubc-vision.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Feb-87 20:06:03 EST
Article-I.D.: ubc-visi.399
Posted: Tue Feb 24 20:06:03 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Feb-87 01:40:33 EST
References: <192@fornax.uucp> <860@ubc-cs.UUCP> <864@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: majka@ubc-vision.UUCP (Marc Majka)
Distribution: can
Organization: UBC Computational Vision Lab, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 26

In article <864@ubc-cs.UUCP> andrews@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jamie Andrews) writes:
> Similarly, I have taken two cross-Canada train trips
> by Via, and I think their service is excellent. [...]
> Isn't it odd that the guy who thought we shouldn't
> subsidize Via also thought that their service was lousy?

I have taken 1 (one) train trip from Moncton to Montreal on a VIA
train.  It took 3 days (rather than the scheduled 14 hours),  standing
on the tracks in the middle of the Quebec wilderness for 24 of those
hours with the temperature outside at -40 (I kid you not), with the
steam heat in the train frozen solid, making the inside of the train
not much warmer than the outside.  I arrived in Montreal 2 days
*after* my flight to Vancouver had departed, rather than 10 hours 
before.  My airline ticket was worthless, and VIA pointed to the
disclaimer on the back of my VIA ticket stub which stated that they
they were hardly liable for delivering my *body* at the destination.

Canada's wonderfull train system cost me $350 to buy a new ticket
to Vancouver, endless frustration, and hypothermia.

Now my question:  Why do you think it odd that someone who thinks
that VIA's service is lousy should also consider that they are
not worth the money we spend on them?

---
Marc Majka