4 ms·

Is this supposed to be cheap? $3-5 for a trip within a smallish town? I get it that this is a subsidized fee already - a taxi trip in my town is at least €5 (th

by manmal 10y ago

Is this supposed to be cheap? $3-5 for a trip within a smallish town? I get it that this is a subsidized fee already - a taxi trip in my town is at least €5 (though unsubsidized); but in my town (slightly bigger than Innisfil), a bus ticket for €2 will get you anywhere, and people are already complaining about that price tag, because you get better value in larger towns for that amount. In Vienna, €2 will get you wherever you want to go within the city, no matter if subway, tram, bus, or all of them. Are buses in Canada 2x as expensive as in Austria? And why? BTW I think we have 20-30 buses for 40k citizens? How could Innisfil with 36k citizens get by with 1-2 buses? This really confuses me. UPDATE: A commenter advised me that €1 != CAD1; and it turns out that Innisfil covers about 4 times the size of my home town, so they are not comparable.

ng12 10y ago
Except buses always take longer than a private car between the wait, extra stops, and crowding potential. They're not really comparable.
- manmal 10y ago
  You are right, of course. It is more convenient, and buses might be driving around almost empty. Public transport has to cover people with low income though, and just omitting buses altogether would suck a lot if a bus ride was only half the price. If it's the same pricetag, then I get how they came to this decision, from an economic viewpoint; from an environmental and city development viewpoint, putting a town of 36k citizens in taxis is surely suboptimal.
- astrange 10y ago
  Crowding means the bus is taking less time than everyone riding cars would. Too many people inside a bus doesn't slow you down the way too many cars on a road does. Extra stops could be solved if drivers knew ahead of time who was at what bus stop - of course, saving time this way means you can't have a schedule anymore.
chongli 10y ago
I live in Waterloo, Canada. Cash fare for the bus is $3.25 and tickets are $13.30 for 5. Once the ION LRT opens up next year I'll be able to take that on the same fare, all integrated.
alasdair_ 10y ago
The total cost of the two euro trip is likely more than two dollars, even though the end user only pays the two. Also, Vienna is a much larger city than the small Innisfil and economies of scale matter a lot.
- manmal 10y ago
  Yes, public transport are heavily subsidized in Austria. My home town has roughly the same pricing as Vienna, in case you overlooked that. It's comparable in size to Innisfil. Perhaps Canadian towns subsidize PT a lot less?
  - greenshackle2 10y ago
    Comparable in population or in size? Innisfil is 260 sq km.
    - manmal 10y ago
      No, check out my original comment. Innisfil is 4 times the size.
cbhl 10y ago
1 EUR is about 1.47 CAD, so 2 euro ~= 3 dollars. Canada has rough winters, and the salt and sand increase the wear and tear on vehicles (so you have to service and replace them more often). Plus, Austria has a population density of 104/km^2. Canada has a population density of 3/km^2. (Obviously, this varies from town to town -- Toronto is far more dense than, say, Waterloo.) I imagine Innisfil is likely mostly detached houses, and very road-centric.
- manmal 10y ago
  That makes sense, thank you.
Markoff 10y ago
doesn't sound very cheap, in my European 40K hometown cheapest flat rate taxi cost 1.3€ without any subsidy, there is no way public transport can compete with them when already two people can rather take taxi instead of bus also, isn't Vienna like 1€ per day if you buy yearly pass? i think Prague is even cheaper, so 3-5$ per ride sound extremely expensive
- manmal 10y ago
  Wow, that's nice. We pay €2,40 just for getting into the taxi, and then a mix of distance and time for the final amount. Yes, 365€/y is true for Vienna.
dmichulke 10y ago
That's so cheap. Here in Luxembourg you pay - 70€ for an 25km ride (Jan 17) - 30€ around midnight for 9km (Some time in 2015) In the more recent case I checked various companies, including French ones from across the border.

by manmal 10y ago

ng12 10y ago

Except buses always take longer than a private car between the wait, extra stops, and crowding potential. They're not really comparable.

manmal 10y ago
You are right, of course. It is more convenient, and buses might be driving around almost empty. Public transport has to cover people with low income though, and just omitting buses altogether would suck a lot if a bus ride was only half the price. If it's the same pricetag, then I get how they came to this decision, from an economic viewpoint; from an environmental and city development viewpoint, putting a town of 36k citizens in taxis is surely suboptimal.
astrange 10y ago
Crowding means the bus is taking less time than everyone riding cars would. Too many people inside a bus doesn't slow you down the way too many cars on a road does. Extra stops could be solved if drivers knew ahead of time who was at what bus stop - of course, saving time this way means you can't have a schedule anymore.

chongli 10y ago

I live in Waterloo, Canada. Cash fare for the bus is $3.25 and tickets are $13.30 for 5. Once the ION LRT opens up next year I'll be able to take that on the same fare, all integrated.

alasdair_ 10y ago

The total cost of the two euro trip is likely more than two dollars, even though the end user only pays the two. Also, Vienna is a much larger city than the small Innisfil and economies of scale matter a lot.

manmal 10y ago
Yes, public transport are heavily subsidized in Austria. My home town has roughly the same pricing as Vienna, in case you overlooked that. It's comparable in size to Innisfil. Perhaps Canadian towns subsidize PT a lot less?
- greenshackle2 10y ago
  Comparable in population or in size? Innisfil is 260 sq km.
  - manmal 10y ago
    No, check out my original comment. Innisfil is 4 times the size.

cbhl 10y ago

1 EUR is about 1.47 CAD, so 2 euro ~= 3 dollars. Canada has rough winters, and the salt and sand increase the wear and tear on vehicles (so you have to service and replace them more often). Plus, Austria has a population density of 104/km^2. Canada has a population density of 3/km^2. (Obviously, this varies from town to town -- Toronto is far more dense than, say, Waterloo.) I imagine Innisfil is likely mostly detached houses, and very road-centric.

manmal 10y ago
That makes sense, thank you.

Markoff 10y ago

doesn't sound very cheap, in my European 40K hometown cheapest flat rate taxi cost 1.3€ without any subsidy, there is no way public transport can compete with them when already two people can rather take taxi instead of bus also, isn't Vienna like 1€ per day if you buy yearly pass? i think Prague is even cheaper, so 3-5$ per ride sound extremely expensive

manmal 10y ago
Wow, that's nice. We pay €2,40 just for getting into the taxi, and then a mix of distance and time for the final amount. Yes, 365€/y is true for Vienna.

dmichulke 10y ago

That's so cheap. Here in Luxembourg you pay - 70€ for an 25km ride (Jan 17) - 30€ around midnight for 9km (Some time in 2015) In the more recent case I checked various companies, including French ones from across the border.