NJB fans incoming... The Québec City - Windsor corridor has about 50% of Canada's population, a similar population density to France, and it's organized in a straight line, including two of Canada's largest cities (Toronto and Montréal). It's really insane that there isn't high-speed rail in this corridor, at the very least, between these two cities you talk about here, especially when both cities have good public transit. Driving the 401 is so painful, and real HSR would improve this area massively. In the last week I've travelled via HSR between Verona and Naples, and Amsterdam and Paris. It really is the best way to travel. Canadians are missing out.
@416to6132 жыл бұрын
Why does everyone forget about Ottawa? VIA has as much demand to Ottawa as it does to Montreal from Toronto. Not in the least because federal public servants are incentivized to use rail. Ottawa also has strong ties to Montreal. And the train station in Ottawa has much better transit and road connections to the core than the airport ever will. I wish people would talk about this as the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal (TOM) Corridor, than just referring to Toronto and Montreal.
@NotJustBikes2 жыл бұрын
@@416to613 this video assumes that alignment (through Ottawa). But also, I used to live in Ottawa and I'd be very happy to forget it. 😂
@joshmorcombe49072 жыл бұрын
As someone north of Toronto who had to drive to Montreal and back just last week, I couldn't agree more
@Nik-ny9ue2 жыл бұрын
Not for long! (on the missing out bits)
@416to6132 жыл бұрын
@@NotJustBikes LOL. Not gonna say Ottawa is a paragon of urbanity. But as far as intercity rail goes, it is simply nonsensical to exclude it. Ottawa has nearly as much air and rail departures to Toronto, as Montreal. And any Ottawa-Montreal HSR would attract a decent commuter market.
@stevenparkison77802 жыл бұрын
You don't even have to walk outside to go between Gare Centrale and Centre Bell, they're both connected to the city's underground walkway network.
@coastaku19542 жыл бұрын
So is the Scotiabank Arena and Union Station in Toronto, in fact they are actually closer
@terryomalley19742 жыл бұрын
You mean Central Station and the Bell Centre? Lol
@theexcaliburone5933 Жыл бұрын
@@terryomalley1974 they speak french there
@1practicaljoker Жыл бұрын
There is no underground link between Gare Centrale and the Centre Bell. The link is between Gare Lucien Lallier and Centre Bell
@Mystro256 Жыл бұрын
@@1practicaljokerthey really ought to connect all three
@simoneh47322 жыл бұрын
Thank you!!! - Yes, you absolutely can arrive 1 hour before departure time at YTZ. It's the big selling point of service from that airport (dominated by Porter Airlines). You can cut it even closer especially if you're walking - Bravo sir on the Rush YYZ reference - True high speed rail is the dream, so happy you focused on that - A bit sad you didn't pronounce "Eh!" in my name. That was tee'd up so perfectly!
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Ha, glad you enjoyed. I feel slightly bad I downplayed the current High Frequency proposal -- it's going to be a huge improvement in the rail service, and for people who value the "productive time" (or whatever you want to call it) that the train offers, a really big benefit. I'm just afraid it doesn't make for a super interesting video! Thanks for confirming my assumption about travel out of YTZ. Every airport is different, but it does seem the smaller ones in cities that have multiple (National, Midway, Burbank, Oakland, Love Field, Hobby, etc.) avoid a lot of the unpredictability that bedevils air travel.
@sblack532 жыл бұрын
Air Canada advertises bag drop cutoff at YTZ only 20 minutes before. Security lines are never long, and the gate is just down the escalator.
@adammillar67752 жыл бұрын
@@CityNerd The only true caveat of the YTZ 1-hour-pre-departure theory is that by my experience and rough estimates, 99.9% of flights out of YTZ get delayed for at least 30-60 minutes. So could you make it there for the schedule departure time? Yes. Will the plane depart then? Usually not.
@jason383212 жыл бұрын
Seconded. Last time I used YTZ it took 20 minutes from getting out of the car to sitting down outside the gate.
@adorabell4253 Жыл бұрын
@@adammillar6775 pre Covid no. Most flights went out on time or within 5 mins of scheduled departure, at least for AC. The problem, of course, is weather. The runway is the absolute minimum required, it’s in the middle of a lake, and there are condos and old smokestacks in the way or in the flight path. So we get things like fog and lighting and wind affecting operations lot more than other airports. Post Covid is a different beast and in addition to all that we have staffing shortages and increased weight restrictions. AC is also having an issue where YTZ is operated by Jazz and AC Mainline took a bunch of the Jazz pilots, a lot of whom did the YTZ/YUL run and did this 5 days before November hit. December should be better up till the snows hit.
@mattmarshall86392 жыл бұрын
The most unbelievable part about this is the leafs making it out of the first round 😭
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
That drought is terrible. Especially for a city the size of Toronto, I mean really?
@tristanridley16012 жыл бұрын
@@CityNerd It's also been the most profitable team in the league for ages. It's like if the Yankees made just as much money but also lost badly every year.
@pex32 жыл бұрын
@@tristanridley1601 so basically, the Knicks
@kevinlove43562 жыл бұрын
The Leafs have quite often made it out of the first round. But they always choke at some point later on.
@coolioso8082 жыл бұрын
The Cubs had the curse, but they finally beat it, just hope Toronto doesn't have to wait as many years as Cubs fans did. At least for Toronto sports team fans, they have won the NBA Championship with the Raps, the MLS title with their FC, the World Series with their Blue Jays, and for the Canadian Football League, the Argo team has been pretty successful over the years (probably helps that there aren't many teams in the league =p).
@AlRoderick2 жыл бұрын
Canadian HSR connecting to Windsor is something that I would love for a purely selfish reason, it would create a stronger justification for connecting Detroit on the other side of the river to Chicago with a high-speed link.
@TheStargazer40002 жыл бұрын
Big like for Canada/Toronto content
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
I'd get bored only making videos about the US -- there's a lot to learn from what Canada is doing right. (And honestly, Mexico, too.) I didn't even really get to talk about land use!
@coolioso8082 жыл бұрын
@@CityNerd I'm Canadian and loved this video, been enjoying quite a bit of your content as of late. New subscriber! Would really like it if you took a look at a Trans-Canada High Speed Rail Line. Like, even from Toronto all the up Northern Ontario (with a few stops), through Manitoba (with stops at Winnipeg and Brandon), through Saskatchewan (with stops at Regina and Moose Jaw), through Alberta (with stops at Medicine Hat, Calgary), through BC (with stops at Kelowna and Vancouver). You can also take a sports-related approach because Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver NHL teams as well as, soon as you get to Manitoba from Winnipeg to Vancouver are a series of WHL junior team locations along the Trans-Canada. Those boys travel LONG hours on buses to get to their games. People travelling cross country just for vacation use the main Trans-Canada quite a bit but it is a lot of wide open space. I think that it would still be a lot safer and more efficient for passenger high speed rail, rather than a bunch of people in their own vehicles going a lot of the times to the same main cities and back.
@MrTaxiRob2 жыл бұрын
I love that you're using sporting events as a good reason for a day trip besides regular commuting for work. I usually use this as an example when talking about HSR, along with major league sports realigning their division and conference structures to encourage travel to adjacent cities. That would help both the leagues and the trains to sell more tickets during non-peak travel times.
@edwardlepine2 жыл бұрын
That’s why I’m looking forward to a resolution of the Tampa Bay Rays stadium situation. The AL East would be much more fun with Montréal.
@coolioso8082 жыл бұрын
@@edwardlepine Bring back the Expos, right? And Quebec City really needs the Nordiques back in the NHL.
@johnsheldon80982 жыл бұрын
You did very well. If anything, you may have underestimated the travel time from Montreal airport to downtown. The traffic is often brutal on that route Your pronunciation of Oshawa is kind of cute. Phonetically, it's Aw-sha-wa. Again, I live in Toronto and you did a good job.
@klobiforpresident22542 жыл бұрын
Isn't traffic usually much lesser during a big sportsball (sportsdisc?) event because everyone's at home watching the game?
@johnsheldon80982 жыл бұрын
@@klobiforpresident2254 I live in Toronto, and even though there is good subway and GO Train service to Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, Toronto FC and Argos games, the traffic going to the games and afterwards is always brutal because of this contingent of folks that won't stoop to using transit
@klobiforpresident22542 жыл бұрын
@@johnsheldon8098 Oh, yeah. Before and after games traffic in U.S. cities can be horrendous. I learned this when living in Lansing, MI, and being taken to handegg games (MSU in East Lansing). I am sure Toronto has issues with traffic *around* games. My local, non-American transit system also gets swamped whenever football occurs because transporting thousands upon thousands ain't easy. I can understand not wanting to be caught up in that mess of loud, occasionally drunk, rarely but sometimes violent sea of people. My question was more about *during* the game. A lot of people like the local sports club, so most of them won't drive (and instead be glued to the television), no?
@topphatt131210 ай бұрын
correction: you live in tronno not Toh-ron-toh lol
@agilemind62418 ай бұрын
@@klobiforpresident2254 The games start pretty late in the evening (after rush hour is over anyway) so it doesn't make a huge difference. And as a city of immigrants there are plenty of people in TO who don't care about the Leafs.
@robertpaterson32292 жыл бұрын
I’ve shown up 25 mins before a flight at YTZ and still got on and made the flight.
@RMTransit2 жыл бұрын
Haha, the 401 is wildly busy that's for sure!
@simoneh47322 жыл бұрын
When I watching this I was thinking "Hey I wonder if Reece knows about this channel?", and then I see you beat me to a comment! #first
@Theincredibledrummer2 жыл бұрын
@@simoneh4732 haha i was literally about to send him this on twitter, but nope he must have a sixth sense for Toronto based transit content
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
It's pretty...amazing. But also Toronto doesn't have THAT many freeways (relative to North America). I mean, would you rather have one super-wide, super-busy freeway, or like 3-4 "normal" freeways?
@simoneh47322 жыл бұрын
The irony is the 401 was originally called the Toronto bypass and was only 8 lanes. The city quickly sprawled past it, and because they had originally given it such a massive ROW, traffic engineers thought the answer to solving the traffic problem was to build more lanes. They were confident that their new 12-16 lane collector/express system would permanently solve congestion.
@neil.simmons2 жыл бұрын
@@CityNerd one wide super-busy, cause highways suck so the less of them the better imo
@belnick2 жыл бұрын
Amazing channel, just have taken existing slow train Toronto Montreal this weekend. Kinda amazing timing vid. Even this experience rocks. Especially with 1 year old daughter, we sure had more freedom to comfort and entertain her comparing to crammed plane or even more car. Cutting time in half and having them run every half an hour, I would take this trip once a month. Montreal is amazing!
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, what goes kind of unsaid in these videos is how great an experience a train can be even if it IS slower than a plane.
@avneet062 жыл бұрын
Yes, you can walk to YTZ 15 minutes before a flight and travel as you’d like to. Feels like a bud station! I’ve done it before when I lived downtown Toronto.
@SyrusDarkhunter2 жыл бұрын
Love the YYZ Rush reference.
@petermacfarlane43882 жыл бұрын
I live in the Central Valley of Calif. near Merced. My friend and I have been closely following the progress being made. I hope to live long enough to ride it.
@ramzanninety-five36392 жыл бұрын
Hello, to a new urbanist channel. I have an explanation for infamous 401 congestion. It is the only limited access expressway spanning all of southern Ontario. In GTHA (Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area) there are only two other highways that parallel it. There is a tolled 407 (the province was stupid enough to build on the edge of the greenbelt, but we were lucky that they also privatized it so in the end 407 did not foster more suburbanization north of the city). There is also QEW, the world's first super-highway, which runs along the lakeshore. I think it is important to contextualize Toronto and its highways. All of the mentioned highways never entered Toronto proper (the City of Toronto prior to 1998 amalgamation). Gardiner was built in the 1960s over a rail yard and DVP was cut through a ravine. As a result, all expressways ever built in Toronto have been constructed in areas with almost no residents. Outer boroughs of modern Toronto were independent suburban municipalities prior to amalgamation. It was their shortsightedness that allowed construction of 401, 404, 427 and 400 in their current form (401 was designed as a two-lane Toronto bypass though farmland back in the 1940s). Since the 1950s, the City's power has been diluted within the Metro Toronto and it is continuously undermined in the modern Toronto City Council. However, a much more urban and human-scale pre-amalgamation Toronto managed to successfully oppose all highways projects that required evicting people (most famously the truncated Spadina Expressway (today's Allen Road), but also unbuilt Crosstown and Scarborough Expressways). It successfully advocated for subway construction and retained the core of its streetcar network though the most turbulent decades. I would go even further to argue that due to its opposition to massive 1960s modernist projects, the City of Toronto did not experience the population shift towards suburbs to the same degree as other North American cities did. It also should be mentioned that opposition to construction of highways in favour of subways became a political consensus abound the 1970s when the political landscape in both province and the city was dominated by Progressive-Conservative Party of Ontario. To a substantial degree, highways construction in today's Ontario is not a partisan issue, it is regional issue (suburbs want them, no one else does). As a result, the most politically beneficial approach over the last 40 years or so was to expand existing highway which resulted in the statistics you see today.
@andrepoiy11995 ай бұрын
It didn't have the move to the suburbs because there wasn't the same kind of racist policies like redlining. What is interesting is that Toronto suburbs are often more diverse than parts of Toronto proper because new immigrants tended to move there. If you look at a racial map of Toronto, central Toronto (a large area north of Downtown but south of the 401), is predonminantly white, while other places in the GTA are quite diverse (with certain ethnic enclaves still existing, like Chinese in Markham).
@TheKenContinuum2 жыл бұрын
I love your channel! The Toronto-Hamilton-Oshawa area is more like an American MSA (based on commuting patterns) than a CSA. The Greater Golden Horseshoe would be the closest analogue for the area to a CSA, and the GGH has about 10 million people now!
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I kinda wondered about that. I think a lot of people in the US don't realize how big of a metro Toronto is.
@Sanginius232 жыл бұрын
it is funny somehow, having the busiest Highway means grid lock, air polution and bloody accidents. nobody is happy about it havinng the busiest HSR is the pride of a Nation
@coolioso8082 жыл бұрын
City design, including transit in North America is really so ass-backwards when you look at it. And it is SUPER crazy to me, especially in Canada, where 50% of people live in that corridor from Quebec City to Windsor that includes the two most populous cities of Toronto and Montreal and they have NOTHING for high speed rail, but they do have 1st place for an infamously busy highway.
@terryomalley19742 жыл бұрын
I really do appreciate that you usually include Canadian cities in your videos. So often, I'll hear Americans and Europeans refer only to "American and Europe" when speaking about issues affecting the entire Western World. I resent this oversigh5, because it makes it seem like Canada and Australia, for instance, are irrelevant afterthoughts. While not as populated nor militarily powerful as the US and the UK or France, these are still two highly developed Westrn democracies that share many characteristics with the US, UK, etc..., but at the same time, have their own unique problems/strengths that are worth noting.
@saideepakb2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, YTZ is a very chill airport. For reference, we used to go there to get coffee and look at planes taking off before the pandemic.
@Quand92 жыл бұрын
Billy bishop airport really does work like that. It's pretty awesome!
@scottcampbell27072 жыл бұрын
Going back to the past would be an improvement. In the 90s, when Air Ontario flew out of YTZ, more than once I made it from downtown Toronto to downtown Ottawa in two and a half hours office to office (including the cabs at both ends). You didn't need to be at the airport an hour before back then, just before the doors on the plane closed. The key was to time your arrival at YTZ for the ferry departure time (before the tunnel). The old ferry took less than a minute to cross the channel, but there were 15 minutes between crossings. In the 70s, the VIA Rail Turbo train took 3 hours and 59 minutes from downtown Toronto to downtown Montreal. It could go up to 140mph but was limited to 95mph due to all the level crossings. For a couple of years in the 70s, there was also apparently Twin Otter DHC-6 service (Air Transit) from YTZ to an airport on Montreal Island in an Expo 67 parking lot near the Victoria Bridge. The service also went to Rockcliffe Airport in Ottawa.
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, the calculus of air travel has changed a bit in the last 20 years. Thanks for the great historical background on some of these travel options. I was aware of the ferry, but couldn't imagine it would be a better connection than just walking through the tunnel (I've never actually been to YTZ). How new is the tunnel? Is the ferry still useful, and for what kind of trip? Lots of luggage maybe?
@scottcampbell27072 жыл бұрын
@@CityNerd The tunnel opened in 2015. The ferry runs every 15 minutes, so if you plan to get to the airport on the hour, half hour, or :15/:45, then the ferry is pretty convenient -- it only takes a minute to cross (the total journey is 400 feet). If you drive to the airport, you can take your car on the ferry to park on the island. The primary advantage of the tunnel is that it spreads the incoming travellers out, so that you don't get 300 people arriving at security at once, 4 times an hour. The tunnel is pedestrian-only, so vehicles have to take the ferry. Before they built the mainland-side terminal, the shuttle bus from downtown took the ferry and dropped you off on the island.
@frnkndad2 жыл бұрын
Best time through YTZ myself was - 30 minutes from entering the tunnel to wheels up on a flight to Baltimore. As long as you don't mind flying a dash-8 (jets are prohibited at that airport), YTZ is always the best choice.
@KdM_BigRingBubba2 жыл бұрын
The main knock that rail travel will always have in Toronto (so long as it uses Union Station) is that Union is on the lakeshore, so there a total absence of population density to the south of the station. For a lot of people who live in the periphery of the city, it can take a very, very long time to get downtown in order to catch a train, and non-peak hour access on regional transit isn't quite there yet (promised to be coming soon with all day 2-way service).
@Neville600012 жыл бұрын
This is why there should be a new station in the middle of the city, with the platforms on the third floor.
@kb_1002 жыл бұрын
@@Neville60001 Berlin Hautbanhoff style. That place feels more like a space station with trains coming in at different elevations.
@TheRandCrews Жыл бұрын
@@Neville60001 like at Spadina with their station for Fastracks and the Barrie Line but not serving any another line
@Neville60001 Жыл бұрын
@@TheRandCrews, when I mentioned a third level, I meant a third _underground_ level, such as in Berlin Main Station or Pennsylvania Station/Monihan Train Hall in New York (yes, I know that's going into the city like a rat, but a lot of train stations are like that around the planet.) The only problem with building said new station is that all of downtown Toronto's already developed with condos, so finding any space to build said train station in downtown or midtown Toronto will be hard thanks to the building of said condos.
@stevensullivan59452 жыл бұрын
I love the Canadian content... thanks for this video! The demand for high speed rail up here is a quite low, but university/college students are among the most frequent passengers. It would be hard to imagine a rail service between Toronto and Montreal that wouldn't include Kingston. Kingston is a cultural and historical hub and is a tourist destination for Ontarians. It is also home to the Royal Military College and Queens University. I could imagine the service running through Toronto - Kingston - Ottawa - Montreal, even though it would increase the total distance and time.
@damienpilon97852 жыл бұрын
Being from Québec, the approximate pronunciations of Joliette and St-Hyacinthe was compensated by the fact that you said "ToronTo" the french way. Also, from the airport to downtown MTL, there is currently only a slow express bus that goes from YUL to Laurent-Groulx and Berri-UQAM metro stations, but they are building a new metro line to the airport which will take only 20 minutes, to be opened in 2024
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I'm excited about that metro line -- I'll have to update my airports video once that's open. (There are a couple other airport services being upgraded, and I'm also hoping we get back to pre-COVID operations too?)
@hdufort2 жыл бұрын
You mean Lionel-Groulx
@kingstonsean Жыл бұрын
Commissioning of the REM to YUL is now delayed until 2027. :( And I think they made a big mistake by not extending it to Dorval's Via Rail train station.
@kingstonsean Жыл бұрын
I'm also from Quebec and thought he did he did a much job with Saint-Hyacinthe and Joliette than he did with Oshawa! CityNerd: "Oshawa" is pronounced much like "Ottawa", but I think you noted that in another video)
@hk33michigan2 жыл бұрын
I’d love to see you talk about a hypothetical Detroit-Chicago-Milwaukee-Minneapolis HSR in addition to the potential Windsor-Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec alignment. There are a lot of Midwest alignments, but it seems that this four city alignment makes the most sense given the city pairs within it.
@Immortalcheese2 жыл бұрын
I'm from Toronto. If you left at 4 PM from downtown via car, you'd get to Oshawa by 7:00 PM Between 4:00 and 6:00 PM, the Highway 401 is just inching traffic. Scoot up a few inches, then stop. Scoot a few inches, then stop. I like to joke that at rush hour, Toronto becomes a walkable city because it literally is faster to walk across the city than to drive.
@agntdrake2 жыл бұрын
Love it. I won't correct the French Canadian names, but Oshawa is pronounced more like "Ah-sha-wa", but I'm totally going to let it slide because you nailed pronouncing "quay". One thing I would say about taking Porter Airlines is that while being pretty convenient, their on-time performance isn't super great (66%), so a high speed train would almost certainly beat it every time. Who are we kidding though? HSR would probably kill Porter because they can't legally fly jets out of City Airport (they only fly Dash-8s), and right now they charge about $450 CDN for a last minute ticket to YUL. HSR would likely be less than half the price, so they'd lose their most lucrative route.
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Good insight on Porter -- I honestly didn't think about price for this one, because the way I set up the rules it was last minute for the buyer, and I didn't want to people to dwell on either (a) ruinous prices or (b) whether there would be seats available at all. I've been to Vancouver enough times that I already learned by my lesson about Quay!
@S14N9LS Жыл бұрын
Late to the party but smooth Rush reference. The kitchen implements did an adequate job recreating the intro.
@alk616952 жыл бұрын
YYZ! I was ready to start air drumming! Ha ha ha. I'd say in current times the easiest way to get there would be a flight from Downtown airport. Though if I was in Toronto and someone said they had tickets to a hockey game in Montreal for a 7pm game, I'd just say forget it. I am the one who usually gets to the arena around 4pm for a 7pm game. Great video!
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
I may not make more Canada-specific content for awhile, so I gotta get the Rush reference in while I can!
@scottcampbell27072 жыл бұрын
To get there in evening, both flying and the train are good options. If you want to get there first thing in the morning (such as for an 8:30am or 9am meeting), though, you pretty much have to fly.
@tristanridley16012 жыл бұрын
You'd forget it? But... this is the Conference finals... Got to catch the Leafs choke in person!
@cigarette.butts.6662 жыл бұрын
How about a video on potential rail transit in western Canada? The west almost always get left out of these conversations
@peterblake83182 жыл бұрын
Oshawa: AWWshawa in Canada and the eh is pronounced AY….just kidding. Great video, you’ve done a tremendous amount of work here.
@ShellShocks142 жыл бұрын
I live in Toronto and it still blows my mind how busy the 401 is. Other highways look worse in pictures and videos but statistically the 401 is hell
@jeanbolduc581810 ай бұрын
Toronto has a USA car culture ... plus Toronto is not a dense city .. in order to get the title of the largest city in Canada, Toronto includes cities as far as 130 km ... does not make sense .. soon Toronto will include Ottawa.... there is no sense of community in Toronto and nothing in commun between these cities
@GuillermoLG552 Жыл бұрын
I have been on HSR in three countries and I have loved it everytime, furthermore I have never met anyone who has been on HSR who hasn't loved it.
@Jack-fw4mw2 жыл бұрын
11:56 I don't know if you intended that to be visual irony, but it was definitely worth it.
@pauldevey86282 жыл бұрын
I live in Ottawa and just found your channel. Your analysis is spot on. Love how many details you have found and factored in.
@dragon322102 жыл бұрын
I flew Porter once out of YTZ going to EWR. What a delight and beautiful views of the skyline
@ernestoalvarez27062 жыл бұрын
Great video! I’m from Calgary and there have been talks about building a high speed train between Calgary and Edmonton. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on how feasible that line would be.
@WhiteWulfe2 жыл бұрын
I'm also curious about the feasibility of it, but hasn't it been something talked about for over twenty years now. Sure would be nice to have such though, because driving the QE2 by yourself is... Well, there's a reason Gasoline Alley exists in Red Deer, and it isn't just to stretch your legs and get a milkshake at A&W and doughnuts at the Donut Mill...
@aidan84732 жыл бұрын
that's a big ask honestly, even as a fan of rail. two smaller cities, regionally important as they are, probably aren't worth it.
@coolioso8082 жыл бұрын
@@aidan8473 As someone who has travelled through that area a fair bit, mostly as a visitor to see family out there, I can say that nothing would make more technical sense than high-speed rail connecting Calgary to Edmonton. With the potential go fast and safely between Calgary and Edmonton on a high-speed rail where every passenger can read, write, listen to music, watch a show or podcast or just chat with each other without the concern of 'focusing on the road' and this trip could be in under 1 hour - it would be a fantastic investment for future sustainability of travel.
@jeanbolduc581810 ай бұрын
A fossil fuel train for sure ... CO2 is the best friend of Alberta
@grandfelixo2 жыл бұрын
I live in Berlin and regularly travel to Hamburg which is roughly a 300km drive and i complain everytime the train doesn't make its 1:45hr time schedule. But seeing these videos makes me wonder how i could even live in America. I can sleep, relax or eat in a train and still need only half the time the car would take me.
@Newspeak.2 жыл бұрын
Rail connections between cities outside of the NE of the US are few and far between and not very good so you almost certainly would need a car.
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
It's amazing that the US and Canada are so technologically advanced but are so far behind on intercity transportation.
@tyleralberico93402 жыл бұрын
6:25 OMG I NEVER KNEW THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THAT RHYTHM MIND BLOWN
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
It was pretty wild when I finally figured it out
@bruhski54692 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the warning on the two T’s 😂
@Steven-hs3db2 жыл бұрын
Well put together analogy, I can vouch for it's accuracy as someone that has made that same trip each way described many, many times. To concur with some other commentary, you could literally be showing up at YTZ without a ticket a mere 20 minutes before the flight and still make it. Getting off at YUL, they are purposely gated right next to the exit and taxi stands, a mere 10 minutes from touchdown and you're in vehicle. Important note is the inherent delays by car or plane due to inclement weather.
@aidanmcgregor87892 жыл бұрын
Yep it’s true, the 401 is the busiest freeway in North America. I live in ottawa and I take it occasionally to head to Toronto, it can be a nightmare.
@lw13916 ай бұрын
As a Canadian, the scenario you engineered not only raised my interest level, but created actual tension thinking about trying to get to that game before puck drop. Well done. Bonus marks for remembering the old conference names (no longer named that, but they should be dammit!! 😉) Also, as someone who used to live downtown Toronto, a 10 min walk from Billy Bishop airport (YTZ), that timeline was very realistic.
@chaughten2 жыл бұрын
You can definitely walk right into ytz! Love this video! More Canadian stuff pls! Esp. Yul 😉
@thetrainmon Жыл бұрын
The Madrid-Barcelona pair was a good foreshadowing! This just retroactively popped into my feed today while Ray is currently in Spain, enjoying, among other things, their vast high-speed rail network!
@coastaku19542 жыл бұрын
I've been to Calypso and IT IS AWESOME!!!!
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
I didn't even know they had water parks in Canada. I was slackjawed.
@coastaku19542 жыл бұрын
@@CityNerd You know we have a summer right? It can get as hot as 40C here, we have many water parks
@haweater15552 жыл бұрын
One of the contributor to accidents on 401 is attempting to drive the entire distance Toronto to Montreal without making a "pit stop" . Most all mishaps occur at the final stage of the trip.
@seanrodgers18392 жыл бұрын
This is truly a fantasy scenario. Toronto in a conference, I forget too, finale. That will never happen.
@stopmotiontacos2 жыл бұрын
Video idea: good trains to take to go overnight camping, i.e., backpacking. Video idea 2: comparison of freight trains and trucking throughput and time tradeoffs. I think freight goes slower in USA. Thanks for doing these fun explorations!
@canadagood Жыл бұрын
I am interested in the differences between shipping by rail versus by truck. If you had something big and bulky weighing about a thousand pounds and you called for quick shipment to New York or Los Angeles what would be the difference between railway and highway transport? How does that compare with passenger overland transport times?
@AncientMiracle2 жыл бұрын
Great RUSH reference!!
@jamiehackl12312 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the Canadian content!
@andrewmason91372 жыл бұрын
I can attest to the YTZ airport. I have walked through the front door and onto a plane in less than 20min, I was 2.5hrs ahead of my scheduled flight and asked if I could take the earlier flight. That being said, I really hope Canada makes a smart decision and makes this a true grade seperated HSR, Toronto is now linked with regional trains to Barrie, Niagara Falls, and Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge too which is pretty awesome.
@peterelliott37762 жыл бұрын
I just watched this video. I'm in Toronto. It was great. I live 15 minutes from Toronto Pearson airport. I'm retired so no leaving work early issues. if I was invited at 4pm, then I am pretty confident that I could get a 5pm flight that lands at Montreal Trudeau at 616pm. $394US / $500CDN. (Ka-Ching!) Lets say I'm 20 minutes getting out of the airport. I'd get a seat as close to the front of the plane as possible and take an overnight bag in the overhead compartment. A taxi to the Bell Centre is around 22 minutes. If the flight is on time, then I'd arrive at 658. I'd be in my seat before the start of the first period. Hmmm... What would a decent ticket to a Game 7 between the Leafs and Canadiens cost? $1000CDN, maybe?
@sagefirman13912 жыл бұрын
I live in Bathurst Quay. I've made a flight in 20 mins from my door.
@lucasapacker6 ай бұрын
If you know anything about Torontonians is thst we love imaginary hypothetical content on a dream transit system. It just gives us hope.
@user-cx7zb1ze3mАй бұрын
Pronunciation of Joliette is just fine! :)
@patspadd82432 жыл бұрын
Hi good video thanks regarding transportation between Toronto and Montreal and cheerio
@Chris4942Chris2 жыл бұрын
It would be cool to see a video about Brightline West that would provide service between Las Vegas and Las Angeles
@spencergraham-thille98962 жыл бұрын
* Los Vegas.
@kingstonsean Жыл бұрын
I realize this is all hypothetical but it's speculated that even the High Frequency Rail won't use Central Station but will use a new station on the other side of Mount Royal. From there it can more easily continue on to Trois-Rivieres along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. Via Rail trains heading to Montreal move very slowly after Dorval Station. They even travel at street level through the Saint-Henri district.
@TheRandCrews Жыл бұрын
I proposed they use Gare Parc cause it’s on the CP Rail line that eventually connects to Quebec Gatineau railway to Trois Rivières and has a blue line connection on the Metro. Either that or they connect to Lucien A’llier probably awkward to get off there
@joshuaeisen4271 Жыл бұрын
Yes, I have flown out of that small island airport in Toronto. I flew Porter home to Ottawa, we showed up 45min before, walked from my hotel downtown!
@maumgz83272 жыл бұрын
0:34 I'm from MX and i've also thought "why not get to Guadalajara through Toluca and Morelia but I think it has to do with the fact that querétaro and león are more "important" economically and industrially than morelia (not necessarily than toluca) That's my opinion about why are the things like that
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Interesting. I don't have an opinion on which route makes more sense...but if I could get from QRO to CDMX without sitting on a bus in traffic for 4 hours that would be pretty great.
@maumgz83272 жыл бұрын
@@CityNerdthe idea of get to qro and cdmx by train in less than an hour has some years in discuss for the very congested highway between both cities but none of them is becoming true, even a hyperloop route was planned (cdmx-qro-leon-gdl) the "mexloop" but the NAIM was cancelled and there was the place for mexloop to arrive and then the high speed train "mexico-queretaro" but had a problem of concession and finally with a simple train but it's stay just in a plan
@maumgz83272 жыл бұрын
I had to use the translate for writte all of that because i'm still practicing my english 👉🏽👈🏽
@1practicaljoker Жыл бұрын
I have driven from Oshawa to Montréal in 3 1/2 hours. So that would be the only viable way to get there today. Of course, that’s not counting the 30 minutes or so it would take to find parking!
@DanTheCaptain2 жыл бұрын
Torontonian here. Couple points. Highway 401 is the busiest in the world because not only is the centre part that goes through Toronto extremely busy, but because the 401 stretches from Windsor’s all the way to the Ontario-Quebec border. Thus the data is slightly skewed when looking at stats for the 401 as a whole. On the topic of YTZ, which is the island airport in Toronto. YTZ is tiny and you can easily show up to your flight with 15-30 mins to spare and board your flight, if you go off-peak, which at 4pm is not happening. Pre-Covid rush hour at that airport can be a madhouse.
@Bencentre2 жыл бұрын
Very entertaining way of presenting this comparison!
@ttopero2 жыл бұрын
Another great investigation! I really like how well you inferred the rail option. I’m curious if you think a straight run with no intermediate stops is reasonable for such a distance. I can’t imagine Ottawa being missed in reality as a required stop. That’s very similar to Minneapolis to Milwaukee, which has Madison in between likely to make a required stop. Suggestion: Compared with “high-speed” rail/commuter rail and light rail, modern street cars seem to be less prominent in American cities. I’m curious if you can figure out a good way to assess the cities that have implemented street cars well. I’ve ridden one in PDX and one in Tucson, waiting for the one in Tempe. Maybe it gets complicated with where they are implemented (downtown, neighborhood oriented, new vs existing development) and how they function, but I’m sure there’s something there🙂
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Straight run is the ideal. In reality, if you look at timetables for Madrid-Barcelona or Paris-Bordeaux, there's a mix of run times -- some trains are nonstop, some have intermediate stops, so the corridor is constructed with station/city bypasses. This is what's planned for California HSR, for example. Modern streetcars? I'm a skeptic (despite being a Portlander)! But I'll add it to the list -- interesting topic.
@77dris2 жыл бұрын
@@CityNerd Paige Saunders channel has a video called "The multibillion dollar plan to fix VIA Rail" that backs you up as to why Ottawa should not be included in a high speed network from TO to MTL.
@416to6132 жыл бұрын
@@CityNerd Sorry. But a straight run is ignorant. Ottawa is the national capital and the sixth largest metro in Canada. It also generates as much traffic for VIA Rail today as Toronto and Montreal. Three huge reasons: 1) The federal government and large employers incentivize public servants and employees to use rail for corporate travel. 2) The two rail stations in Ottawa are substantially more convenient than the airport. Even after the LRT extension is built. 3) The Francophone population of Ottawa and Eastern Ontario has substantial ties to Montreal. Any fast rail service would turn it into one large commuter market.
@416to6132 жыл бұрын
@@77dris And it's both wrong and ignorant. Ottawa generates as much ridership for VIA as Montreal, to Toronto. Among many reasons why VIA chose the northern alignment for its HFR proposal.
@ttopero2 жыл бұрын
@@416to613 I would imagine having both stop & flow through options would be beneficial. I guess the mix would be up to the demand for users of the Ottawa stop.
@n.b.35212 жыл бұрын
Sure hope we can get high speed rail between Toronto & Montreal!
@jonathanlanglois27422 жыл бұрын
I've been saying for a while that High Speed Rail is the right solution for that corridor. Your video makes an excellent demonstration of that. HSR could easily replace the airplane within that corridor and take the lion's share of the trips. HFR wouldn't be quite as competitive, especially with the REM soon to serve YUL.
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, the REM is going to change the equation a bit.
@gpan622 жыл бұрын
You got the Montreal suburbs right, but not Oshawa ("O" = "Awe") 😉
@henrivanbemmel2 жыл бұрын
We took this in 2013. The train swayed so much at 160 km/h that the water was slopping out of the toilet. The problem for all of this is the dated trackage. To go for high speed rail, you have a lot of open space between say Toronto and Montreal. Even Trenton and Kingston are not that big. So, a lot of track with not much in between. For high speed the track has to be straight as an arrow (at least parallel as one) and with gentle curves. You cannot go too far north without encountering the Canadian Shield, filled with granite, a much harder place to build a train right of way. I would love high speed rail and I think that in France they have begun to ban short distance flights because the trains give comparable service and have a much smaller environmental footprint. However, then you get into the spectre of a Gov't corporation (VIA) displacing free-enterprise (airlines). Now maybe Canada is more open minded about such things, it is not a given. We also have a population that for the most part would drive to Montreal rather than to fly or take the train. Why? because they can leave when they want, stop when they want and take what they want. Such things matter to a lot of people.
@stratamember4637 Жыл бұрын
Been there done that (at least the part from T.O. to Cornwall.) There was so much side to side motion it was tiring to read.
@EdgarDizzlewicz9217 күн бұрын
I'm pretty sure that North York was incidentally, the filming location they used for a lot of Crash (the JG Ballard adaptation about the people that get off on car crashes, rather than the other film). Which I guess is a nice bit of car-centric perverse trivia.
@ratazana12 жыл бұрын
I wonder if the Gravity formula needs to include city density as a variable. ‘Last mile’ has been a huge problem for North American cities. In this case especially for Toronto.
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
That's fair. The gravity model is a solid first cut, planning level look, but there are definitely refinements you could and should consider.
@zacharylegaspi75942 жыл бұрын
LA to Vegas next maybe? or Miami to Orlando would be cool too given that the railway is actually under construction.
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Those are both definitely on the list. Jeez, do you work for Brightline or something??
@gerrycallison243626 күн бұрын
Many successful high frequency Amtrak corridors in the USA occur in states where the capitol is accessed from a much larger metro area via passenger rail. Think of NYC to Albany, Phili to Harrisbug, Bay Area to Sacramento. Extrapolate this to Canada, and think how popular a service linking Montreal and Toronto to Ottawa would be.
@kateofthings Жыл бұрын
Would like to see a vid on the value of high speed rail between Edmonton and Calgary, which seems perfect.
@mrgeorgejetson2 жыл бұрын
Your pronunciation of Joliette is perfectly fine. It's the way you say "Oshawa" that I find kind of surprising. How do you say Ottawa? And as for the pronunciation of Montreal... well, it's a shibboleth that you can use to instantly detect outsiders like you, and I'm quite happy to leave it that way. :) On a less jokey note, you're actually giving Alex more time than he needs. As an Alex who loves to shave it close with air travel, and who ... "lived" in Toronto and occasionally traveled back to my beloved hometown using this very airport, I can tell you that he'd easily have ten or fifteen minutes to spare. However, I'm a self-aware enough Montrealer to say that the ride from Dorval to downtown is pretty brutal, not to mention pretty brutally expensive, and for that reason I think I took the train more often than I flew, despite the brutally slow real-life train ride of several years ago. If Montreal would just build a quick rail system from the airport to the downtown train station there would be no contest for me and I'd say fly for sure, but obviously a European or Asian-style high-speed rail system would be the best of all worlds.
@Boffin552 жыл бұрын
If the Ottawa - Montreal segment were to run north of the Ottawa River, and enter Montreal from the NW, it could run past the vastly underutilitized Montreal Mirabel Airport
@jrausseo12 жыл бұрын
i loved this video
@hamanakohamaneko70282 жыл бұрын
Why stop there? What about Toronto- Chicago?
@bl45422 жыл бұрын
I really liked the video !!!
@mr514062 жыл бұрын
Excellent video! ⭐️ I “Canada goosed” the algorithm. 🇨🇦
@Grantonioful2 жыл бұрын
It's Pronounced [Awshawa]. Thank you for your time.
@markrichards68632 жыл бұрын
I love Montreal. I think it's the best big city in North America. They're a model of how to run things, and improve infrastructure. If I was younger, I'd learn French and move there. I live in NYC.
@definitelynotacrab76518 ай бұрын
This needs to be built ASAP
@Katrielle_Going_To_Quebec2 жыл бұрын
Tabarnak the pronunciation of Saint-Hyacinthe. Atleast you tried!
@Coltoid2 жыл бұрын
I only take the Billy Bishop airport in Toronto, there is a constant free shuttlebus from Union Station so its probably easier for most people in the city to get to than to Pearson as the train from Pearson is an express train and there are only 3 places it stops. I fly home to Ottawa often, you can show up 15-30 mins before your flight, its 30mins in the air, and then I get picked up at The Ottawa airport just 1 hour and 30mins after I left. It's usually 4-5 hours driving or 5-8 hours by Via Rail train. This airport makes living here pretty wonderful, flights to almost any city in North America, I live walking distance to the airport (20mins).
@shawnfarquhar2434 Жыл бұрын
Came here looking for info about Canadian cities, stayed because of the Maple Leafs shade.
@Arkiasis2 жыл бұрын
1:10 the term for that area is the "Golden Horseshoe" that includes all of Oshawa (you pronounce like Aw-shaw-aw) to Niagara Falls.
@208467 Жыл бұрын
The fastest drive Toronto to Montreal I've ever experienced was 3:35 Uptown to Downtown and that was at insanely fast speeds that will get your car and licence taken away on the spot.
@kingstonsean Жыл бұрын
One of my biggest travel blunders was flying from CDG to LHR. :( My ultimate destination in London was Canary Wharf, so I should have taken the chunnel train. But one of my best decisions was three days earlier when I took the train from Geneva to Paris. :)
@sking21732 жыл бұрын
Interesting, but the only time such a comparison is even valid is if you compete between two metro areas that would have the chance of getting HSR service. I live in Asia, and flying to the US, I can always catch a commuter out of my gateway airport and be flown to a point reasonably close to my destination, even if it’s a small town. For me, the US air network works well. Their trains and buses ? It seems disuse has taken a heavy toll on those conveyances.
@samm85002 жыл бұрын
1967 was also the year Montreal held the worlds fair, and built habitat 67 which is my favorite example of brutalism. As a Vermont resident not far from Montreal, I would love a high speed rail corridor from Quebec City to Toronto.
@CityNerd2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I just focused on the big city pair, which is what you should build first, but I think in reality you would (A) have an Ottawa stop, (B) extend through Hamilton, London, and Windsor (to the US border), and (C) extend to Quebec City.
@Boffin552 жыл бұрын
And while you're doing high-speed rail Canada, how about the Calgary-Edmonton, over relatively flat farmland and a distance of 300km.. Calgary-YYC AIrport-Red Deer-YEG Airport-Edmonton
@oerrukhsfgkh16122 жыл бұрын
Wow your channel is blowing up!
@seanrodgers18392 жыл бұрын
Nice to see one relevant to me. I really appreciate the more analytical approach with premises and facts. You're good on the facts and other interesting information. I do think that the driving time from Oshawa (rhymes with Ottawa) to Montreal is overestimated. I used to go Ottawa - Burlington regularly, door to door was exactly 501 km, in 4 hours 45 minutes. So that route is more likely 4:30 instead of 5:30 I have done the train, in that short period when they could travel 160 km/h all the way to Ottawa. It was nice, but not convenient for most of my travel purposes. It's stunning to think that a real high speed train could get me from Ottawa to Toronto as fast as the GO Train could get me from Toronto to Burlington.
@johnboxxy34322 жыл бұрын
Are airline tickets crazy expensive if you buy at the last minute? They are in Australia.
@RobertDerusha10 ай бұрын
Although the posted limit for the 401 is 100km/h, you'll definitely be in the flow of traffic going 120-125, 130 at some points. Which would have Chris arriving at 8 or so. (And any leafs fan would probably approach light speed if given this scenario)
@WhiteWulfe2 жыл бұрын
Air Canada lands on time... That's a first :P
@johngaleazza36522 жыл бұрын
Regarding Oshawa. VIA rail (the National rail carrier, who would most likely be operating the high speed rail network) also stops at Oshawa. And given that Oshawa is kind of the Eastern Gateway to the GTA I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume that there would be high speed rail service here (or at least a conventional rail service that connects to a near by HSR station)
@patton3rd12 жыл бұрын
Hahah, I love your 'warning' about pronouncing both 't's in Toronto
@sexygeek89968 ай бұрын
If someone tells me to pronounce it with one "t" then I'll call it Hogtown.