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Rail schedule must suit commuters

Trains have to run at times and frequency that meets the work schedule of the commuter.
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Rail schedule must suit commuters

As a former resident of the CVRD, I read with some interest the most recent proposals of the ICF to revive the line from Nanaimo to Victoria with a spinoff to Langford.

In the eight years I lived there I always felt that the ICF proposals, like the high speed ferry to Vancouver from Nanaimo, were doomed from the get-go and for one reason.

Scheduling.

If the ultimate objective is to get folks out of their cars and use rail, then it has to be a real commuter rail system and not a pale copy.

Trains have to run at times and frequency that meets the work schedule of the commuter.

Nobody is going to take a train that does not provide service on a schedule that it out of sync with the business schedules of most working people.

You cannot reasonably say to someone, take my train but understand if you want to get home to your family your business activity in Victoria has to be scheduled so you get our last train at 6 p.m.

Some past proposals had trains leaving Victoria in the morning with the return from up-Island mid-day. What is the sense of that?

Unless there is some realization that success will be based on regular use by commuters going to work on schedules that fit work life and at a frequency that makes it convenient, spending $43 million just to fix the line is a huge waste.

Alex Currie

Sidney