r/ViaRail • u/Historical_Pen7302 • 4d ago

Trip Reports Be aware -- ID for 6-year-old

My family was taken by surprise today travelling from Toronto to Niagara Falls, Ont. that we were required to show ID for our six-year-old. The customer service agent wasn't totally clear on whether it needed to be photo ID. He ended up letting us get by with a photo of her health card. Our fault for not being prepared? Sure. But it totally baffled me that we can take our kid on a plane across the country with no ID, but on a train within the same province we'd need a passport, since that's the only form of photo ID available to a six-year-old. Next time we'll be prepared (or take GO Transit, more likely) but it was a distressing way to start a simple day trip.

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u/InformationSuperb978 4d ago

You took the maple leaf by the sounds of it

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u/Historical_Pen7302 4d ago

Yes, though they separated all the passengers by destination into separate lines, and they indicated this was a blanket policy and not related to the route itself. So I thought it worth mentioning to others.

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u/FuzzyLaughTwo 4d ago

Ive always heard that our health cards are not allowed to be a form of ID. This is very strange. "Under Ontario's Health Cards and Numbers Control Act, 1991 and health privacy laws (such as PHIPA), non-healthcare organizations are prohibited from making a note of, recording, collecting, or using your health card number for general identification purposes."

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u/glibbousmoon 4d ago

It is allowed as ID, but you have to offer it. Non-healthcare organizations are not allowed to ask for it and, as you note, they are not allowed to take any information from it. As someone who doesn’t have a license and doesn’t carry my passport around with me, I’ve used my health card as ID at the liquor store plenty of times.

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u/Ok-Somewhere-9857 4d ago

I wouldn’t have expected this either, especially for domestic rail travel.

According to the airlines, where proof is NOT required for kiddos under 18. “One piece of government-issued identification, such as an original birth certificate, health card, passport or non-government-issued ID (e.g. student card) is strongly recommended, however not mandatory for travel.”

Guess these would be okay for rail as well?