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this is asinine. firstly what relative purchasing power of 9$ in Thailand vs Canada? secondly in developing countries the market for bus transport is enormous b

this is asinine. firstly what relative purchasing power of 9$ in Thailand vs Canada? secondly in developing countries the market for bus transport is enormous because only very wealthy have cars.

danbolt 8y ago
Plus I can imagine the population density of Canada makes a large difference, too.
- rocky1138 8y ago
  Maybe in some cases, but I've taken multiple hours long buses in Taiwan and multiple hours-long buses here in Canada and price and quality of Canadian buses is way behind the times; inconvenient, expensive, and slow.
  - moltar 8y ago
    And Taiwanese were also able to build a high speed train in mountainous, very seismicacally active terrain. We can’t seem to figure this out in flatlands.
  - madeofmeat 8y ago
    Population density of Taiwan: 650/square km. Canada: 4/square km. Naturally there will be huge differences in what is cost-effective for these two very different countries.
- moltar 8y ago
  Those people who choose to live in the remote locations can’t expect to get all of the services that people who live in dense areas are getting. It obviously doesn’t make sense to run the buses from/to areas where there’s little ridership. It’s like any other utility. They probably have a septic tank instead of sewer. Slow satellite internet. Pump your own water. Now also lack of bus. The trend is people moving to the cities. It’s undeniable.
moltar 8y ago
I imagine the largest portion of the fare is fuel. Fuel is the same price or more than in Canada.
- michaelt 8y ago
  According to [1] in the UK the major cost is employees - which make up 61% of costs, while fuel makes up 13% of costs. Obviously, rural vs urban and local prevailing wages would mean this varies between locations - but I doubt Canadian wages are much different to those in the UK. [1] http://www.tas.uk.net/content/images/Session4-Costs-SteveWarburton.pdf http://www.tas.uk.net/content/images/Session4-Costs-SteveWar... page 13

this is asinine. firstly what relative purchasing power of 9$ in Thailand vs Canada? secondly in developing countries the market for bus transport is enormous because only very wealthy have cars.

danbolt 8y ago

Plus I can imagine the population density of Canada makes a large difference, too.

rocky1138 8y ago
Maybe in some cases, but I've taken multiple hours long buses in Taiwan and multiple hours-long buses here in Canada and price and quality of Canadian buses is way behind the times; inconvenient, expensive, and slow.
- moltar 8y ago
  And Taiwanese were also able to build a high speed train in mountainous, very seismicacally active terrain. We can’t seem to figure this out in flatlands.
- madeofmeat 8y ago
  Population density of Taiwan: 650/square km. Canada: 4/square km. Naturally there will be huge differences in what is cost-effective for these two very different countries.
moltar 8y ago
Those people who choose to live in the remote locations can’t expect to get all of the services that people who live in dense areas are getting. It obviously doesn’t make sense to run the buses from/to areas where there’s little ridership. It’s like any other utility. They probably have a septic tank instead of sewer. Slow satellite internet. Pump your own water. Now also lack of bus. The trend is people moving to the cities. It’s undeniable.

moltar 8y ago

I imagine the largest portion of the fare is fuel. Fuel is the same price or more than in Canada.

michaelt 8y ago
According to [1] in the UK the major cost is employees - which make up 61% of costs, while fuel makes up 13% of costs. Obviously, rural vs urban and local prevailing wages would mean this varies between locations - but I doubt Canadian wages are much different to those in the UK. [1] http://www.tas.uk.net/content/images/Session4-Costs-SteveWarburton.pdf http://www.tas.uk.net/content/images/Session4-Costs-SteveWar... page 13