Rider Express picks up some Greyhound routes
SASKATOON Residents in a few Saskatchewan communities will still have access to passenger bus service even though Greyhound is ending its routes in the region.
Today, Rider Express Transportation is starting up its Vancouver to Winnipeg route, via Calgary, which will include stops in Swift Current, Moose Jaw, Regina, Whitewood and Moosomin. The route will be served by the company’s new fleet of five 50-passenger buses.
“Saskatchewan is getting the benefit of this long run, so there are more (stops) on these Saskatchewan routes,” said Rider Express owner Firat Uray.
The Regina-based company is also adding an Edmonton to Winnipeg route, which will include connections in Saskatoon and Regina, starting on Thursday.
The routes will fill some of the gaps left by Greyhound, which is ending its bus service in Western Canada as of Wednesday.
Rider Express already operates on some of the routes, such as Saskatoon to Prince Albert, that were vacated by the Saskatchewan Transportation Company when it shut down in May 2017.
Uray noted that passengers who will be getting on or off the bus in the major centres, including Saskatoon and Regina, can book tickets online, but passengers in the smaller communities will need to call 1-833-583-3636 to make a reservation a day ahead of time.
He said he doesn’t know what to expect about demand, but he believes there’s a need for the service in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
“We don’t know anything. We will experience it when we are inside it,” Uray said.
“What am I seeing is 10 million people are living in these four provinces and I think this service is much needed and there will be a demand for it.”
Passengers aren’t waiting for the last Greyhound on Wednesday to check out new options — according to Stuart Kendrick, senior vice-president of Greyhound Canada, ticket sales have already fallen off to the point that some route frequencies are being reduced.
“Demand is quite low as we run into this last week or 10 days,” he told The Canadian Press in a recent interview.
“You’ve got single-digit riderships on the schedule that we have left throughout Western Canada, so that’s probably about a 50 or 60 or 70 per cent decline based on what corridor you look at.”
Kendrick said shutting down all routes from northern Ontario to the West Coast involves a “significant cost’ to Greyhound Canada.
The company is laying off about 420 employees. It will move 70 or 80 of its 110 western buses to its ongoing operations in Eastern Canada and sell or scrap the rest.