The anticipated reduction in services provided by Greyhound Canada Transportation ULC (Greyhound) between Prince George and Prince Rupert has been finalized and approved by the B.C. Passenger Transport Board (PTB). Within approximately one month, the night time service between Prince George and Prince Rupert that included 亚洲天堂 Lake will no longer run.
Currently, 22 trips per week run between Prince George and Prince Rupert. When the route reduction comes into effect, there will be 14 runs between the two cities, or one round-trip run per day. This leaves 亚洲天堂 Lake with one daily trip in either direction.
The local routes cited for elimination in the Greyhound鈥檚 submission to the PTB are route 5052, eastbound daily, except on Wednesday, departing Prince Rupert at 9 p.m. and route 5039, westbound daily, departing Prince George at 10:30 p.m.
Citing unsustainable losses, including $14.1 million during the 2012 fiscal year in B.C., Greyhound blamed reduced ridership, high fuel and maintenance costs, inflexible regulations, and unregulated competition from provincially subsidized entities like BC Transit and the Interior and Northern Health Authorities, as major factors in its decision to apply to reduce its services across the province.
Greyhound needed approval to eliminate or reduce any routes, but it would not have needed approval to leave the province altogether. This very real scenario was considered by the transportation review board in its decision to let Greyhound reduce services across B.C. Greyhound receives no subsidies from the provincial government, and the transportation board acknowledged the need for the company to be profitable in order for it to continue as a transportation service provider.
Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake Mayor Luke Strimbold participated in discussions with the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) to articulate the village鈥檚 position on the reduction of services. The NCLGA submission to the PTB was considered.
The submission asked the PTB to consider the effect that the elimination of the route would have on package transport. The PTB responded that its mandate was to consider how Greyhound鈥檚 application would affect passenger service and not package service. However, the PTB noted that daily service between cities would still remain even with the reduced service.
Strimbold remained concerned about how the elimination of the nighttime route will limit options for personal travel, regardless of the levels of ridership. He also remained concerned about how businesses that previously relied on Greyhound parcel transport would be effected.
But he doesn鈥檛 see the issue as solely a Greyhound matter.
鈥淚 think this emphasizes the importance and urgency of having a regional transportation strategy meeting with stakeholders,鈥� said Strimbold. 鈥淭here are a variety of transportation initiatives in operation so we need to collectively work on a solution.鈥�
A solution proposed by the mayor of Smithers, Taylor Bachrach, is to introduce a public/private partnership to provide local and regional daily transit services between communities on small, more cost-effective buses.
