VIA Rail

[danbrotherston]

You can't transport a bicycle from here to Toronto on a VIA train, but you can on a GO train. (I've done it once when I got lucky and the VIA train happened to have a baggage car, but they don't promise that.) For my April trip I'm thinking of biking to YYZ and then taking the plane out, and the train back.

The rules are here:

http://www.viarail.ca/en/travel-info/bag...dard-items

Toronto-Montreal with a bicycle on Fridays has to be the 11:30 train (VIA 64). I don't think you have to box your bike. I've seen people just get their bike delivered off the train, ready to ride. The rules seem to say that the bicycle can be on a different train than you.

(I am going to Jonquiere in February, but I'll take the plane; the train seems to take 2x as long. I'm curious about the route. It probably does not go near a highway.)

It seems like you'd be looking at an overnight in Montreal to take the train to Jonquiere.

I'm curious about the rule where it says "if there is a transfer, you have to box the bicycle". That doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

@ijmorlan: I guess that VIA would re-issue a ticket if you missed a transfer to GO, but by default they issue a fixed-time ticket for GO (which is not a very good deal, since paying with PRESTO is much more flexible and the same price). The GO connections seem to be kind of second-class for VIA personnel. They do tell you what to do for VIA-VIA connections.

I believe Via has a train or two with a bike rack, so you don't need to box your bike.  I don't know about transfers, I'm not even sure there is a transfer which has bike options on both legs.  

Out of curiosity, how did you take your bike on GO, I thought all our trains qualified as rush hour trains, and thus bikes were prohibited.  I've taken my bike on the GO bus once, the experience was acceptable, although it was a little nerve wracking having a bike on the front of a bus on the highway.

I have wanted to take my bike to Montreal, but have never been able to figure out an option which didn't seem like more trouble than just renting bikes there (where was pretty easy).  If you find a way, please let me know.  

As for missed connections, I know if you book book all your legs in one trip, even if some are on GO, Via should guarantee your transfers.  I didn't do that (because Via only books GO Train, not GO Bus), and as a result of very slow busses I missed my connection (I was pretty steamed that 3.5 hours was insufficient time to get to Union station).  I called Via as it became apparent that I would miss the connection, and when I got to union (at one minute past departure time) the Via attendant there was able to book me on the next train (which was the next day sadly).  They told me calling ahead was a good idea.