Canada

As someone trying to live without a car, this is very disappointing to see, if not expected. Alto looks like any other new shiny highway announcement. I understand very well that this is badly needed, but beyond that, there's apparently no federal (nor provincial in my case) plan to have any kind of coherent transit system/network.

I could live with the delays and late trains but Via Rail's pricing scheme is literally discouraging people from taking the train. And that's if there are still trains (or even coaches). It's impossible to go in lots of cities without a car now, when it wasn't before. The town where I grew up was founded mainly by the Grand Trunk, had passenger trains for more than a century, but they were discontinued in the mid 90ies, by Paul Martin and the Liberals.

Meanwhile I'm watching videos about "rail route reactivation" and renewal in Germany. From the perspective of someone without a car, this is bad. It seems like the federal government wants people like me to abandon trains/buses/bikes and drive a car everywhere.

I wish Alto wasn't the new shiny thing where they'd dump all the money while forgetting about what's left of the current crumbling infrastructure. I've lived more than two decades without a car but by the time Alto is finished, I'll probably own one because every other coach, train, and transit service will have been cut.