Greyhound may end service
Colin Dacre - Sep 15, 2017 - Biz Releases

Image: The Canadian Press

Greyhound Canada has applied to the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board to pull all operations out of the Similkameen Valley.

The bus service is looking to eliminate stops in Princeton, Keremeos, Hedley, Eastgate and Manning Park by rerouting the Vancouver to Osoyoos route through Kelowna and Penticton. That route, along with routes between Alberta and Vancouver, Kamloops and Kelowna, and Kelowna to the Kootenays would also see service reduced to just two trips per week.

The request is a part of a larger application that would see Greyhound cease service to all of Northern B.C., which has been met with widespread outcry and opposition from residents.

“Greyhound has been losing considerable amounts of money in an unsustainable manner from its intercity passenger bus operations in British Columbia over the past eight years,” the company writes in its rationale to cut the service, noting it lost $12.9 M last fiscal year operating bus service in B.C.

The company says it “deeply regrets” the impact the move could have on the public, but “it is in the broader public interest to maintain service with fewer options than to have Greyhound abandon its B.C. operations all together.”

Image: Greyhound
Proposed closures of Greyhound routes in B.C.

Data provided by Greyhound shows ridership numbers steadily declining in the Similkameen over the past four years.

“For some people that is their only mode of transportation to move them from their community, down to Vancouver,” Boundary-Similkameen MLA Linda Larson said. “But, I have also seen the buses, and there is nobody on them.”

Larson said she is concerned about the impact the changes could have on Similkameen communities, but is “torn” and understands Greyhound is running a business.

Keremeos Mayor Manfred Baur said the proposed cuts would have a “very negative impact” on the community, particularly for those that need to travel to the Lower Mainland for medical appointments.

“It doesn’t necessarily need to be low income, it just needs to be people with medical conditions that can’t drive anymore,” he said. “What about in the winter? A lot of older people don’t like to drive on icy and snowy roads.”

He said Keremeos will be joining Princeton and other impacted communities in sending a letter to the transportation board, asking them to decline the cuts. MLA Larson said she would also be signing onto the letter.

Baur added they will also likely encourage residents to voice their own opinions to the board, who is reviewing the application and accepting public comment until Oct. 13.

If approved, Greyhound would kill the routes in Jan. 2018.


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