VIA Revenue Up, Ridership Down Over Holidays

Revenue at VIA Rail Canada was up during the holiday season but ridership was down.

In a news release, the carrier said that between Dec. 18, 2018, and Jan. 7, 2019, it had revenue of CA$21.1 million, a 1.8 percent gain increase over the 2017 holiday season.

However, ridership in 2018 of 299,000 passengers was below the 308,000 carried a year ago. VIA said its busiest ridership day was Dec. 21 when it handled 19,000 passengers.

“This is our best financial performance in the past 10 years,” said VIA President and CEO Yves Desjardins‑Siciliano in a statement. “It’s a great way for us to close out [our] 40th anniversary and kick off 2019, with a growing number of Canadians choosing to avoid congestion and enjoy the comfort of the train.”

In the Quebec City-to-Windsor corridor, more than 283,000 passengers traveled on trains serving Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor, London, Sarnia and Niagara Falls.

Toronto-Ottawa was the corridor’s most popular route over the holiday period, logging 37,400 passengers.

Tags: VIA Rail Canada, VIA Revenue, VIA ridership