Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) directors are split on whether they should fight for Greyhound to stay.
Greyhound Canada has to discontinue passenger service on five routes, including their daily route through 亚洲天堂 Lake.
RDBN directors have recently discussed whether the RDBN should submit a letter to the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board asking them to deny Greyhound鈥檚 application.
鈥淲hile it鈥檚 an essential service, I just don鈥檛 have confidence that Greyhound is the way to go,鈥� said Mark Fisher, Director of Electoral Area A (Smithers Rural). 鈥淭here are other services that could be developed.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 support forcing a business to keep going when they don鈥檛 have that desire - otherwise they would鈥檝e made some changes, or come talk to us,鈥� he continued. 鈥淚鈥檇 rather take the approach of initiating conversation with other service providers.鈥�
鈥淲e can invite Greyhound to the table, but they haven鈥檛 taken leadership,鈥� he added. 鈥淚鈥檇 rather work with allies as opposed to people who are not leaders.鈥�
亚洲天堂 Lake Mayor Chris Beach said Greyhound is to trying to use BC Transit鈥檚 new Hwy. 16 bus service as a scapegoat to withdraw services.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not very legitimate because their [Greyhound鈥檚] passenger service has been deteriorating,鈥� said Beach. 鈥淭hey are not making an effort to provide a good service.鈥�
鈥淭o me, they just really want to use the current situation to get them out of it,鈥� he added. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they should be using BC Transit as an excuse; they should鈥檝e been making a better effort over the years.鈥�
Fort St. James Mayor Rob MacDougall called Greyhound鈥檚 attempt to withdraw services a 鈥渃op-out.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know when the last time was that Greyhound came to the board or council chambers to have a chat, but I鈥檝e never seen them; they鈥檝e never come to express their problems, or to see if we can assist them in any way,鈥� said MacDougall. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we should let them get away with it.鈥�
MacDougall added that although Greyhound only operates once a day, it鈥檚 an essencial service for northern B.C. residents.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an option, and I think we need to keep those options.鈥�
RDBN chair Bill Miller agreed that although Greyhound has not been making an effort to provide good passenger services, he thinks that the RDBN board should fight for them to stay.
鈥淭he only reason that I will be supporting this motion [to ask the B.C.Passenger Transportation Board to deny Greyhound鈥檚 application] is because I think that in the short term, at this point in time, for a lot of our communities Greyhound is a critical transportation piece that the BC Transit does not yet do,鈥� said Miller.
鈥淢y long-term vision is to see something more credible and more robust in terms of transportation,鈥� he added.
In the end, the RDBN board voted to write a letter to the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board expressing the concerns voiced during the meeting and asking them to deny Greyhound鈥檚 application.
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