Customers apprehensive as Greyhound exits province
SASKATOON As Kate Locsin waited to board the Greyhound bus and head home to Lloydminster for summer break, she wondered how she’ll be able to make the trip in the future after Greyhound Canada announced all routes in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba will be shut down.
“I actually got upset last night because I was like, ‘Oh no, I don’t have anybody,’ ” she said on Tuesday. “My friend in fourth year is going back to Lloyd, and now I don’t have anybody to ride with. I need to ride the bus. Not having the bus anymore, I don’t know how to get home.”
Locsin, a student in the physiology and pharmacology program at the University of Saskatchewan, said she takes the bus home a minimum of four times per semester. But now, without the bus, she’ll have to get a driver’s licence or find another mode of transportation.
“As a student here, losing Greyhound is not convenient for us, especially for people who don’t drive. Instead of trying to save up money to get a car and driving back and forth — I think bus is better,” she said.
Greyhound Canada cited as factors in the decision to end the routes (which also include all but one in British Columbia) a 41-percent decrease in ridership since 2010, competition from subsidized national and regional carriers, the growth of low-cost airlines, regulatory constraints and increased car ownership. Two routes in and out of Saskatchewan, as well as other routes running through the province, will be among those affected. According to Greyhound, 415 people are expected to lose their jobs. The changes are expected to be implemented by the end of October.
The announcement came 14 months after the Saskatchewan government shut down the money-losing Saskatchewan Transportation Co. The provincial government announced plans to shut down STC in its 2017-18 budget, which was tabled in March 2017.
The Saskatchewan government has resisted calls to reverse its decision to shutter 71-year-old STC, and confirmed Monday it will not be revisited following Greyhound’s announcement.
Doug Wakelin is nearing 80 years old. Without Greyhound buses, he’s not sure about other transportation opportunities available to him. With the province’s population growing and more people living longer, he doesn’t think shutting down bus routes is very fair to aging residents.
“I had a stroke, and I lost my licence to a point,” he said.
“I live in Wynyard, and can drive a 20-mile radius around there. That’s all.
“Otherwise, I have to take the bus. So I don’t like the sound of losing Greyhound one bit.”
Although Wakelin doesn’t travel by bus that frequently, he enjoys going to visit his daughter in Drayton Valley, near Edmonton. He said he will no longer be able to do so when the routes shut down at the end of October.