Of course it slips under the radar. Does the yearly subsidies ever see a glint of light?
Here's a headline from a recent news article:
"Via Rail boosts ridership, cuts operating loss by 12 per cent"
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report- ... e29913520/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
But dig a little deeper into the story, here's some interesting facts that don't jive....
"Via Rail's ridership rose in 2015, helping Canada's national passenger train service cut its annual operating loss by 12 per cent to $280-million.
The Crown corporation said passenger-miles rose by 1.7 per cent last year and revenue climbed by 6 per cent, the first time in seven years both categories have increased.
Total government funding declined to $378-million while on-time performance fell to 71 per cent from 76 per cent, a deterioration Via Rail blamed on the freight railways that own the tracks."
Their operating losses was $280 million, but the Canadian government funded VIA $378 million in total. So obviously VIA spent $98 million on some capital projects. Did VIA buy any new rolling stock in 2015? No, they're still using existing equipment. So where did VIA spend that extra $98 million on? It looks like created accounting imho....
Some more facts that don't make sense at all.
"Taxpayer subsidies for every Via Rail passenger were $73 in 2015, compared with $83 in 2014. The subsidies are lowest – $42 – in the Southern Ontario and Quebec corridor. Long-haul subsidies were almost $500 per passenger while regional services were subsidized at $607, Via Rail said in its annual report released on Friday."
Isn't corridor services the same as regional services? Maybe VIA defines regional services differently than Amtrak?
How does that compare to Amtrak 2015 data?
https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0249" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In 2015, Amtrak received a total of $1,390 million for both capital expenses and operating subsidies. One has to dig through Amtrak's many reports to find subsidy data. For example
http://media.amtrak.com/wp-content/uplo ... -edits.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In 2015, using this line....
"Amtrak covered nearly 94 percent of operating costs in FY 2016 with ticket sales, payments from state partners and agencies and other revenue – up from 92 percent the year before."
Which means in 2015 revenues paid 92% of the operating costs. Revenues in 2015 totaled $2.185 billion. Some math is required to arrive at the subsidy.
$2.185 billion x 0.92 = $2.010 billion (operating costs)
2.185 - 2.010 = $0.175 billion or $175 million (subsidy)
2015 ridership was 30.882 million passengers.
Therefore subsidy per passenger in 2015 was $175 million / 30.882 million = $5.66 per passenger. Note: this doesn't include grants for Amtrak's capital expenses which was easily over $1 billion in 2015. Keeping the math simple, and just adding an additional billion to the $175 billion, the total deficit would be $1.175 billion. So the total deficit per passenger would have been $1.175 billion / 30.882 million passengers = $38.05 per passenger.
Having to dig through the public papers and doing the math isn't putting your bad foot forward into the light of day. Which is why deficits and operating subsidies do not make many people's radar, in both Canada and the USA.