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The Mayor of Princeton said the province’s transportation minister “needs to get involved” in the fight against Greyhound’s proposed round of bus route cuts in southern B.C.
Mayor Frank Armitage made the comment during Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen board meetings on Thursday.
Greyhound Canada plans to eliminate service to Princeton, Keremeos, Hedley, Eastgate and Manning Park, and reduce routes drastically between Osoyoos and Summerland.
The RDOS will be writing a letter opposing the cuts to the Passenger Transportation Board, who needs to approve Greyhound’s application.
Armitage called on the province to step in and prevent the cuts, as he explained that he received no response when he gave input last year after Princeton’s routes were cut back.
“They asked for input then… I wrote to the same gentleman that’s asking for input this time,” he said. “And we never heard back from them, nothing.”
Kaleden director for the RDOS, Tom Siddon, said there wouldn’t be a feasible transportation option for residents if Greyhound’s bus routes are axed.
“It’s all well and good to say the South Okanagan transit plan will offset (the route cuts). But that only takes you so far,” he said. “I think we should take a very strong position.”
Board members put forth a motion unanimously to send a letter to the Passenger Transportation Board.
Armitage and Keremeos Mayor Manfred Bauer have already written letters of their own, while Osoyoos Mayor Suzan McKortoff will be writing as well.
Penticton city councillors heard the issue at Tuesday’s council meeting, and will discuss it further in two weeks time.
Greyhound said in its rationale last week that it “deeply regrets” the negative impacts of its cuts, “but it is in the broader interest to maintain services with fewer options than to have Greyhound abandon its B.C. operations altogether.”
The company lost $12.9 M in its B.C. routes in its last fiscal year.
The proposed cuts to routes across the province, including eliminating service entirely in northern B.C., would save Greyhound an estimated $2.6 M in operating costs in the next fiscal year.
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