Originally Posted by Shareholder

People on the prairie are used to driving between their major cities and they will not be shifted from their cars easily. The Edmonton-Calgary shuttle worked well because one flew to/from a city-centre airport to another that was relatively close in (the old roadway access to YYC saved 2-miles of convoluted driving and fed you right onto an expressway that by cab was cheap and quick to the city centre. There were no outrageous fees and additional charges, and security was minimal. Today there are too many hassles and too much cost to flying between these cities as there would be between Regina and Saskatoon (not to mention lack of population).

While high-speed rail would appear to be a better alternative, it too is doomed to failure because of the dominance of the automobile and frame of mind, not to mention lack of population. HSR works in Japan and parts of Europe because of density of geography and population, limited car ownership across the middle class, and highly urbanized society.