Not if, but when you get older, start having medical issues, driving skills start to dwindle and you have medical appointments in Nanaimo or Victoria, trails will not be of much use to you, and in the winter when the roads are bad, you will wish you had rails.
However, if the train goes from Nanaimo to Victoria, it will not be of much use to those of us north of Nanaimo, and our highway bus system is almost non existent today.
It would be nice to have these rails for appointments and shopping, departing from Courtenay, travelling south to Victoria. Also, a connecting train from Parksville to Port Alberni would be beneficial for those travelling in that direction.
In the 1960s I was a coach operator for the original Vancouver Island Coach Lines (Campbell River to Nanaimo). Passengers complained then that the E&N was going the wrong way, but at least we had excellent highway bus service connecting with coaches that went onto the ferries to Vancouver. Today we do not have such great service, and it is non-existent on the ferries.
The transportation service we once had has been dismantled and the current system does not serve the public well.
In 2012 I had to make two trips to the cancer clinic in Vancouver. The walk from the terminal onto the ferry is too long when one has health issues.
Buses travelling on the ferries would be helpful. I also travelled to the cancer clinic in Victoria for treatments. The train would have been great.
Let’s make the rails work for us all — from north (Courtenay) to south (Victoria), beginning in the morning and returning in the late afternoon or early evening. If run properly, rails can prove to be a valuable and relaxing experience.
Ken BordianParksville
