Senior promotion returning

The province’s intercity bus company is bringing back its Senior Seat Sale promotion, which offers $15 one-way tickets between any two points on its route system.

To buy tickets, bring your ID to any Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) agency or bus depot. Seniors also are reminded to bring their identification with them at the time of travel.

Discount tickets cannot be bought online “because our system just doesn’t have the capability,” STC spokeswoman Kelly Michaud said. “We have a few limitations to how many fare options our systems can handle.”

In place since 2009, this promotion runs during September and applies to those 60 and over.

STC says the regular oneway senior fare between Saskatoon and Regina is $38.40 plus tax.

More information on the promotion is at www.stcbus.com/seniorsale or www.facebook.com/STCbus.

Michaud said the sale is a matter of thanking past riders and attracting new ones.

Boosting passenger numbers runs through recent annual reports.

Despite glowing reviews for customer service, STC’s passenger numbers have been falling. It carried 244,785 passengers between Jan. 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016, a 6.4-percent decrease from 261,531 in the 12 months of 2014.

CEO Shawn Grice attributed this drop-off to warm winter weather and low gas prices that made travelling in cars more affordable, plus changes to Greyhound’s schedule along the Trans-Canada Highway.

STC covers about 62 per cent of expenses, and “in the public transportation industry, these numbers are very favourable,” Grice wrote in STC’s annual report. Still, the operating subsidy supplied to STC by the province grew to $13.25 million in the 2015-16 operating year, compared with $10.3 million in 2014.