Greyhound looks to drop northern B.C. routes
Greyhound Canada has applied to regulators in B.C. to drop five routes, four of them in the northern part of the province, as the company deals with plunging ridership.
Greyhound calls the decision “regrettably unavoidable,” but said there has been a 51-per-cent drop in ridership since 2010, along with higher costs and more competition from publicly subsidized services.
Routes that would be eliminated include a 718-kilometre run along Highway 16, the so-called Highway of Tears, between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
After dozens of murders and disappearances of women along that highway, the province, local governments and B.C. Transit launched a subsidized route in June connecting Burns Lake, Prince George and Smithers, mirroring portions of the Greyhound route.
The company also applied to drop its routes from Prince George to Valemount, Prince George to Dawson Creek, Dawson Creek to Whitehorse and Victoria to Nanaimo.
Stuart Kendrick, senior vice-president at Greyhound, said the application was filed with the Passenger Transportation Board in early August and the process normally takes about 90 days but could be longer because of the proposal to cut five routes.
“We can’t continue to operate these routes at a loss,” he said, adding Greyhound can’t compete with subsidized B.C. Transit.
“We’ve communicated to the provincial government for several years that this is eroding our business. It does create an unfair playing field and when you have subsidized transit they’re able to offer fares that are much lower than ours,” Kendrick said. “Connectivity from northern B.C. into the main corridors is really what the customer needs and right now it’s not a viable option for a private carrier.”
Greyhound is continuing its discussions with provincial and federal officials regarding viable options for transportation in rural areas, Kendrick said.
Terry Teegee, tribal chief of the Prince George-based Carrier Sekani First Nation, said other private companies also would be unlikely to make a profit, but rural residents need reliable transportation between isolated communities.
He said existing subsidized services would have to be expanded or new ones would be needed to take over so people in northern B.C. have options that are readily available elsewhere in the province.
“Why aren’t we a priority?” he asked. “There’s no reason why there couldn’t be a transit system up here as well that could (provide) service like in Vancouver or any other place.”