[niwell]

I travel with VIA between Toronto and Ottawa fairly often and it's a mixed bag. Generally I find that the schedules are off by 5-10 minutes, however once one delay occurs they begin cascading. I remember leaving Toronto an hour earlier than a friend and beating them to Fallowfield station because our train was on time and received priority. Unfortunately been on that delayed train a few times...

The payment system was annoying as hell but thankfully supposed to be updated now. Wish they had better drink offerings as the only craft beer last time was Beau's, but according to some friends in the industry that has to do with bilingual labeling requirements. The waiting corrals are also annoying but since I rarely travel with large bags I don't bother standing in line anymore. Wifi also sucks.

I always check and see if there are deals on first class as it's MUCH better - occasionally it's only $20 or so more than economy which is made up for with free drinks / meals. Though I was a bit flabbergasted once when I asked if I could have a beer with my meal instead of wine and was told that no, I absolutely could not!

Right now it's world's better than the bus, but that's not saying much. During busy periods (Xmas, for instance) I try and use Porter unless the price differential is just too much to justify. If they do manage to improve service speeds and timeline reliability at the current price point I would always stick with the train.