Loss of STC is bad news for rural areas

A totally unacceptable statement was made a while back by a government official about the upcoming shutdown of Saskatchewan Transportation Company buses. It was that the STC was being subsidized by taxpayers who never use the bus, and that was not fair. What nonsense. So, people who no longer drive vehicles should not pay taxes for maintaining highways? Or, once children are out of school, parents should not pay school taxes?

I get the impression that our villages and rural areas are being looked upon with contempt. The people on reserves and villages and small businesses will have no way in or out except via vehicle. Even if you live in a larger centre like Yorkton, and you plan an outing after May 31 to anywhere in the province you already feel stranded.

Many years ago reliable bus companies, especially the STC, made up the void when passenger trains quit running. Speculating that the “private sector” will step in is a wishywashy prospect. There would not be a central office to coordinate services across the province, and what about the same secure and professional services that the STC has?

The government has made our province more and more a two-big-city place because there are fewer and fewer specialists in smaller centres, so now getting those services is complicated by the potential shutdown of the STC bus.

Nobody is considering that we need to plan for an aging population, which is another reason to keep STC.

I have talked to many folks and we all agree that we need the STC. Let the company use smaller buses and the bigger ones for peak travel times. We concerned citizens, we who never complained about subsidizing numerous federal and provincial government enterprises for decades, including STC, we seniors who have “held up the fort” want the STC buses to stay. T. Lefebvre Prince, Yorkton