I'm trying to reduce my greenhouse gases while traveling. This experiment began last year as I researched alternatives to flying to visit family out West. It ends with my discovery that taking the train is actually nice and that I'll try to take it over flying. It didn't hurt that airline prices went through the roof as the price of oil reached angelic proportions. The real question is if my resolve will hold with oil prices crashing.
Last Christmas I took the Greyhound bus across the country to visit my family in Alberta. I researched and compared prices between the train, bus and carpooling -- all contribute considerably less carbon dioxide than air travel. Trains and buses are fairly close in terms of the greenhouse gases they emit during similar trip lengths. They differ greatly, however, in terms of comfort and romantic history. There is absolutely nothing romantic about the Greyhound. It's right down there with Coffee Time and Dollarama. It's the working class travel solution. My bus trip was a dreary 50 hours of windy roads of blowing snow, sick and coughing neighbours, and stops at Tim Hortons and Burger King parking lots every few hours. Other than the very low price, there is very little that's redeeming about bus travel.
I'll never get those hours back but at least I got to keep my head despite the fact that anyone who is forced to sleep upright in the Greyhound's very uncomfortable seats throughout Northern Ontario and Manitoba might plead for such a merciful end.
So instead of taking the bus again this Fall, I researched my alternatives: carpool, Via Rail, Amtrak or bike. Carpooling is too infrequent and unreliable. It's hard to get enough people together to share all the costs. VIA Rail takes almost 50 hours, costs around $700. The big drawback is that VIA no longer goes through Calgary - the fourth largest city in Canada (how's that for a national railway?). VIA would drop me off in Edmonton so I'd still have to take a 7 hour bus ride to Lethbridge. Amtrak goes through the US so I'd need to bring my passport and get to Buffalo. The big drawback is that there is absolutely no public transportation from Montana to Alberta where my folks live. Luckily they can still drive and like to pick up their kids. But even better was that during good weather I could take my bike and bike across the border to Canada through raw, desolate prairie.
So Amtrak it was: around 38 hours from Buffalo to Shelby, Montana, costs $430, and a quick bus connection between Toronto and Buffalo.
The Train
Bike with Coach CanadaFor land-based transportation Amtrak has to be my best choice: affordable; comfortable and easy access to food and drink; and easy access to interesting people. Amtrak provides roomy seats; low fees for bringing bikes; an observation lounge where they sell food and drinks; a dining car; plug-ins for computers; lots of helpful staff going up and down the isles; the chance to walk from one of the train to the other; lots of great views along the way; and it's fast.
Compare that to the Greyhound: psychotic killers; cramped seats; no room to walk around; no food service; constant stops at crappy fast food restaurants; no plug-ins; TVs that never play movies; and no extra staff to help.
Here's how I took Amtrak. I got onto Coach Canada in Toronto to Buffalo for $27. The bike went into a plastic bag that cost me $10 with free shipping (again Greyhound comes off looking bad where they require you to box up the bike and charge you $30 for a $25 ride).
Buffalo's intermodal routeIn downtown Buffalo's bus station I put my panniers back on the bike and biked to the Amtrak station around 12 miles outside of downtown (I guess they assumed everyone would drive to the train station). After passing through desolate- and dangerous-looking inner suburbs I finally made it to a tiny 1970s Amtrak station with one large Amish family of 8 waiting for the midnight train. The friendly staff gave me a box for $15 and charged $5 for handling the bike. The box was large enough that I didn't need to remove the wheels; only turn the handlebars and remove the pedals.
Observation Deck
Ten hours later we arrived in Chicago for a four hour stopover. I walked around a bit taking pictures of buildings and all the Chicago hipsters on bikes. Relaxing. If I were on the bus I'd probably be looking out the window wistfully near Sudbury. Then I was back on the train for another 30 hours. I had an audio book to keep me company and did lots of walking back and forth to the observation deck. I ended up playing a couple Cribbage games with a mother from New Hampshire while looking at the Great Plains whizz past us. It felt good not to have to get stuck in traffic nor worry about steering this big thing. I ended up spending a good portion of the time on the observation lounge, despite the fact they cooled it down to about 1 degree above freezing from what I interpret as an attempt to keep people from spending more than 2 minutes in the car.
Montana Interstate 15Finally the next evening we arrived in Shelby, Montana, population 3000. I found a $50 hotel with a Carribean-themed room and got up early the next morning to start a long, long bike ride to Lethbridge, Alberta, next major town north. It was a simple matter of staying on the long, deserted Interstate 15 from dawn to dusk, buying as much water where I could. Northern Montana isn't exactly desert but one must be careful to stock up on water. At dusk I was 30km from home but too exhausted to finish my 150km bike ride. I call my Dad and he comes pick me and my bike up.
Niagara ParkwayOn my return train trip I arrived back in Buffalo at about 11am, I eschewed the bus service back to Toronto for a nice 120 km bike trip between Buffalo and Burlington GO Train station. After a harried experience of accidentally taking the wrong exit and ending up on a major freeway just outside of Buffalo (something I always manage to do in major American cities), I managed to lift my fully loaded bike over some barriers and get onto the right road to the Peace Bridge and pass through Canadian Customs.
In the Niagara Region I relished the chance to explore some of the back routes. I made my way up along the quiet Niagara Parkway up to Niagara Falls for some quick snaps to prove I was at the biggest tourist attraction this side of Disneyland, and then through Niagara's shoulderless backroads along vineyards and suburbs. It takes some careful choices to get onto less populated roads so you don't feel like car traffic is getting too close. Highway 81 is a beautiful road to take, lots of orchards and vineyards, and far enough away from the QEW.
It was dark by the time I got onto the Waterfront trail again, going for endless miles on the QEW side roads. This part of the Waterfront is safe but quite uninspiring with few views of the lake. After a quick, filling poutine at the 5th Wheel truck stop I realized I was going to be late. In the dark I hurried back on the interesting Skyway trail through Hamilton's most interesting houses (reminds me of the Toronto Island community).
If it wasn't pitch black and if I wasn't about to miss my train I would have ambled a bit more on this section. Instead I made it the GO Train station minutes before the last train left for the night, saving me the torture of having to bike another 50km through the night. It was so late that GO didn't see any reason to allow people to buy tickets. I relaxed in the near empty GO Train and contemplated my choice of transportation that took a trip that would have been about 12 hours on an airplane and stretched it into a near epic 125 hour round trip. All in the name of saving some greenhouse gases by taking a slower, more civilized and romantic form of travel.
If this is a trade-off you can appreciate than perhaps you'd be interested in the website: The Man in Seat Sixty-One. Maybe I'll see you on Amtrak this Christmas.
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