Meetings Planned to Talk About Greyhound Service Cuts
Prince George, B.C. – A late resolution to the UBCM has been unanimously supported by members of Prince George City Council. The resolution calls for the Passenger Transportation Board to decline Greyhound’s application and ensure that BC’s transportation network remains fully connected, to achieve our province’s collective public safety, economic, social, and environmental goals”.
“We just learned of Greyhound’s plans recently, past the deadline for submitting resolutions” says Mayor Lyn Hall but because it is an emerging issue, there is a level of confidence that it will be allowed on the delegation floor for a vote by delegates.
Hall says there are plans to bring the issue forward to the Ministry of Transportation reps who will be attending the Union of BC Municipalities conference next week “We hope we can meet with the Minister just to talk about the impacts that will occur in the northern and central part of the province as a result of this”.
Greyhound’s application is to suspend service on a number of routes including:
- Prince George to Prince Rupert,
- Prince George to Valemount,
- Prince George to Dawson Creek.
- Dawson Creek to Whitehorse and
- Victoria to Nanaimo.
Hall says they also hope to meet with the Vice President of Greyhound who is responsible for operations in Western Canada “We will try to coordinate that. As we know, this request is now before the Transportation Board of B.C. but we don’t expect a decision for a while, so we’ve got some time here.”
Members of Council expressed their support for the resolution,. “For some communities, there are no other inter city travel options” said Councillor Murry Krause “So I think it’s really important that we work with Greyhound and try to stop their moving forward on stopping to serve those routes.”
Councillor Garth Frizzell says there have been a number of letters from the public, including one which said the Transportation Board needs to make sure there are viable, convenient , safe and frequent options. “That safety part is critical” says Frizzell, “So when they make an application to change its license to remove service to the north, I hope this resolution will help change some minds.”
Greyhound says it plans to continue its freight business to the communities, something Councillor Jillian Merrick says is strange “There would be nothing more insulting than to watch a Greyhound bus go by full of packages and not allow people to board.”
Comments
Maybe Jillian would like to lend her bike to those people… I’m sure she hasn’t discovered yet that those communities have no painted bike lanes yet
You could always ship a wood box that you hide in. Say 84in. by 24in. by 23in. Should fit most people.
This comes as no surprise, and it’s not the first or even second attempt for Greyhound to reduce/cut busline services in the central and northern parts of BC.
Since many communities have adopted the heavily subsidized other bus service along hwy 16 corridor – Greyhound ridership is further reduced. Can’t expect a company to lose revenues year after year and still keep service going.
What I find hard to believe is that people didn’t think that this was a very real possibility if introducing the minimal fee bus service.
What did you expect?
That’s it in a nutshell. Well said.
And, some one really thinks Greyhound is gonna use buses for freight???
Councillor Jillian Merrick says is strange “There would be nothing more insulting than to watch a Greyhound bus go by full of packages and not allow people to board.”
Ummmm Jillian…..If they are not going to accept passengers don’t you think they would use a vehicle more suited and economical for carrying packages like maybe a cube van?
And how did the vote go to grant 250k tax dollars to Greyhound’s direct competitor?
Are these politicians for real!!!!
Because of political policies they have supported a private company loosing money wants to pull out and they want to force it to stay. Talk about socialist extremism. But that seems to be the way of the world these days. I wonder if we can get Frizzell to run up and down the highway with his taxpayer funded electric toy, Nissan Leaf, giving rides. Hey a private business not run on pixie dust like government.
Wow there definitely is no hope past Hope.
I bet the likes of Merrick, Frizzell, Krause Hall cannot wait for this forum to end so they can continue with their social extremism with out criticism.
Their largest cost of operation is the cost of diesel ( the most unhealthy of exhaust) . Meanwhile Protera all electric bus has just broken a world record of 1,100 miles on a single charge . If greyhound doesn’t smarten up . Someone else is going to eat their lunch .
Let me guess, this record was set in a warm climate under perfect conditions, sort like saying my 2014 GMC Sierra uses 9.3L per 100 km fuel mileage, not in real life conditions it doesn’t, just like the electric bus will not go 1,100 miles in real life conditions. The reason the bus was able to go so far is because you would need a vehicle the size of a bus to hold all the batteries required to go that far! Bring that bus to PG in January and I bet it would not even make it to Dawson Creek.
Lame notion . Norways bus systems are going electric . Just today one Norwegian city’s placed the largest ev bus order of 25 new Volvo buses and it gets a heck of a lot colder there than it does here . They are also per capita the largest adapter of EVs . Their government is also in the business of hydro electricity . Sadly unlike us their policy is Not set by their New car dealership association. BChydro should be screaming EVs at the top of their lungs . Sweden is busy electrifying their ferry system . Two more ferries had their diesel power taken out and replaced by electric motors and batteries , just like what’s happening in Norway .
overweight with out passengers …
First of all, I don’t understand where Jillian’s thought process is as to Greyhound using Buses for freight. Second wasn’t it the communities and province’s idea to give first nations people free bus service? Why not just subsidize Greyhound for the extra tickets? I am sure it would have been cheaper than buying new buses.
Has there even been any talks with Greyhound about a subsidy to help upgrade service out west?
Jillian Merrick has no idea what it takes to run a business.
Greyhound has its own time schedule and hasn’t budged on it yet. Would be crazy to subsidize a system that is not convenient to people
Nothing is more insulting than the money we wasted on bike lanes….
Greyhound is a business… businesses need to make money.. if a route is costing your company money..shut it down..don’t pander to the whiners who are compliant about the cut in routes.. if they kept this routes open and the business failed and there was no greyhound..just think how much the same people would whine then.
All you complaining about the cuts.. why don’t you go to your job..take a %15 pay cut and give it to greyhound d to keep the routes open.. problem solved.
They can’t compete with the government subsidized transportation. People saw this coming months ago. Why are some acting surprised?
Ataloss. Here is some interesting data on your present (best) country Norway.
**Despite the recent downturn in oil and gas markets, the petroleum sector is still the key driver for the Norwegian economy. It is the country’s single largest industry. The sector accounts for 15% of GDP, 26% of total investments, 20% of state revenues, and 40% of total exports. Norway is the worlds 3rd largest exporter of natural gas, and the 10th largest exporter of oil. Indirectly, it has been estimated that the petroleum sector contributes around 220,000 jobs throughout Norway. Norway’s oil production peaked in 2001 at 3.4 million barrels per day and declined to the current level of around 1.9 million bpd.
So there you have it. Without the oil and gas industry, and all the associated jobs and revenue Norway would be a basket case.
So in Norway regardless of electric bus’es and cars, oil and gas rules.
The subject was , we live way up north so EVs don’t work here , which is rubbish . As to their (Norway’s ) business model , who cares ? Ours is different . We import almost all the gas we burn , sending the profits out of BC ,Canada even . We have all the energy we need to power electric transportation and in doing so fill the pockets of BChydro . And in doing so , keep All the money here at home .
In the north with the cold weather, long distances EVs have a long way to go before of any use. The cities leaf has proven the short comings.
Ataloss how is the performance of your EV and solar system. I am jealous of all your free driving and home energy, oh wait.
If EVs so great why the subsidies let the free market decide and it has hardly being inundated with EVs. Maybe someday but way off in the future yet. Canada’s greenest uni is not exactly crawling with EVs or solar panels.
I briefly worked at Greyhound way back when and sometimes buses were actually used just for freight. Even then that is where the profit was.
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