The Peterborough Examiner

Maritime Bus cutting two routes and amending others in N.B.

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FREDERICTO­N— The president of Maritime Bus says his company is being forced to cut or modify a number of routes in New Brunswick because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mike Cassidy said passenger travel demand has been heavily affected since last March.

In an interview Tuesday, Cassidy said the number of passengers fell from 191,000 in 2019 to just 69,000 in 2020.

“For eight years we built a break-even, intercity-essential service moving passengers and parcels throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and into Quebec and Ontario. We never asked for a government cent,” he said.

However, Cassidy said in December he had no choice but to ask the three Maritime government­s for subsidies to help his struggling business.

He says Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island agreed to help in a three-way deal, but New Brunswick said it has a policy of not providing grant subsidies to for-profit companies.

Cassidy said that as a result, he was forced to amend schedules after learning New Brunswick’s position.

Cassidy said the last three weeks have been “gut-wrenching” as he had to decide to reduce service.

“I was asking for less than $100,000 a month over an eight-month period — May to December 2020,” Cassidy said.

He was asking a similar amount from Nova Scotia and a smaller amount from P.E.I.

New Brunswick Green Leader David Coon is calling on Premier Blaine Higgs to negotiate an agreement with the company to keep its buses on the roads.

“Public transporta­tion is an essential service for anyone who cannot afford to own a car or is unable to drive, “Coon said in a news release.

Asked about support for Maritime Bus during a news conference Tuesday, Higgs said it appears the company got support of about $160,000 in March.

“It seems the financial situation was strained even prior to COVID,” he said.

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