Predictions right about the STC wind-down

Riders left with minimal options Cindy Hanson and JoAnn Jaffe write.

More than a year ago, the Government of Saskatchewan announced the “winddown” of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC). We at Save STC/Stop the Cuts predicted that most people who had depended on STC would be left without transportation and most routes would remain unserviced after its closure. Our predictions were correct.

Saskatchewan’s publicly owned Crown corporation, STC, operated for 70 years and was critical in linking rural and urban services and people throughout the province. That connection is gone.

The Saskatchewan Party said the services of STC would be replaced by the private sector. A few private companies came forward to offer passenger services. We contested their safety, accessibility, and affordability at their Highway Traffic Board hearings. These objections were in vain, given the HTB’s haste to effectively deregulate passenger service, yet today only two out of 10 remain.

The end of passenger transportation has affected the elderly, the disabled, women, medical patients and many people living in rural and remote locations — not surprising, given that more than 60 per cent of STC riders were women and 70 per cent were low-income. Perhaps the greatest surprise is that Minister Joe Hargrave continues to say that STC would have cost taxpayers $85 million to $100 million over five years, when in 2016 the actual cost was $10.6 million. He continues to stand uncritically behind the wind-down even though it remains one of the most contested decisions of the Wall government, according to the Leader-Post.

STC provided medical passes that enabled rural cancer or dialysis patients to access medical services for $69 a month. Without this subsidized travel, medical professionals note an increase in the number of rural residents missing appointments, and Indigenous governments are trying to fill the gap by starting their own services.

Where are we today? One former rider described being a prisoner in her own town. Disabled persons in this province are left completely without options. Many seniors without resources or choices have moved from rural locations to cities or are left unable to visit friends and family in other locations. Social services’ staff are themselves driving young clients/children to appointments because there is no longer a bus to put them on. Inmates that formerly had rides home upon release are now left to fend for themselves.

A common complaint by women is that transportation is an access, safety, and support issue. Indeed, it tops concerns for Canadian rural women. Yet, the federal government does not intervene because it says public transportation is under provincial jurisdiction. But the provincial government and Hargrave deny there is a problem. If they cared, they would support an audit of the social and economic benefits of STC and the real costs of the wind-down.

A social audit of the real costs of privatizing STC would show that people are now spending far more in real dollars to attend appointments, to travel, to visit family or to move blood and medical supplies. Where we once had safe, reliable transportation with the added bonus of working time on a bus, we now face additional risks by driving. For those whose only option is private unregulated drivers or hitchhiking, the story is grim. If they actually find a ride, danger and harassment are always a threat.

As we continue to research the STC story, we learn that there were ways the Crown corporation could have cut back. Instead of increasing the ratio of management to front line workers, making STC uncompetitive against other players, or instituting “Lean” in 2010, for example, it could have implemented more effective and rewarding measures. The question about public cost and decision-making remains disconcerting. It’s hard to meet a person in this province who is not affected by the wind-down. It’s even harder to imagine a province that would care so little in doing this to its citizens. Cindy Hanson and JoAnn Jaffe are professors at the University of Regina. They are currently conducting research about STC.