Greyhound cancelling bus service in province

Guess that brand new terminal was a bit of a mistake...
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WINNIPEG — Greyhound Canada has decided to cancel its inter-city bus service in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, effective 30 days from today.
The company said the "very difficult" decision was based on oppressive legislative and regulatory regimes by both the provincial and federal governments.
"Our financial situation is dire and we are no longer in a position to absorb losses that are almost solely attributable to government policies," said Stuart Kendrick, the company's senior vice-president.
The company is providing 30 days notice to the Manitoba Highway Traffic Board, so that all passenger tickets sold here to date will be honoured.
Greyhound is the largest provider of inter-city bus transportation in Canada, serving 700 communities and offering 1,000 daily departures across the country.
The Free Press has calls into the company and also the union representing Greyhound workers, and will provide more details as they become available.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/breakingnews/Greyhound-cancelling-bus-service-in-province-56936197.html

HOLY SHITSTICKS!

although to be fair... The Pas to Winnipeg.. sure that bus is usually full. Winnipeg To Vita? maybe two people?

I am willing to bet this is a way of changing the rules that govern where they HAVE to go so that they can remove several of the non performing stops.
The new terminal really has not much to do with the riders in the province, alot more cross country ridership and such.

Can you still take a greyhound to a destination outside the province?

This was previously speculated upon I think.

Not altogether surprising since the Province mandated several communities HAD to be served. Many of the mandated routes were not viable for Greyhound so they lost money serving them.

This is what happens when government sticks their nose into business. Let the market decide how to best serve certain communities.

Other companies will sprout up to pick up the slack. Watch government relax the rules now as a result.

As for that new depot, I expect it'll continue to serve their extra-province routes.

Bartron wrote:Can you still take a greyhound to a destination outside the province?

yup

I wonder if they'll still offer a freight service? A great deal of my rural customers use Greyhound as their only courier/freight service...

Excellent point. I'll say no. If the bus is not going there neither is the freight they'd carry under the bus or in the trailer.

greyhound has trucks that are cheaper to operate and can hold more then a bus. Depending on the area, I suspect frieght will still go, but there will most likely be a few places cut off.

What rural place does not get Canada Post deliveries Airt?

The Tories should be all over this. Any comment, Mr. Swan?

You mean the tories should be all over this with a solution, or just blaming and complaing?

Are they on the hook for money put into the new terminal?

Deank wrote:What rural place does not get Canada Post deliveries Airt?

None that I'm aware, however there are some things we sell that Canada Post won't take... such as large coils of hose. We may have to start sending freight "prepaid & charge" on our carriers...

We send quite a bit of stuff to our Northern sites via Greyhound.

When they aren't available though...or we have larger shipments...we use Gardewyne...so there's a good chance their business will increase due to the closures.

Yeah, we use Gardewine whenever we're prepaying the shipment. They're pretty much the only game in the province.

Deank wrote:

Bartron wrote:Can you still take a greyhound to a destination outside the province?

yup

ahhhh...are you sure? Where can you catch a bus in the province then?

I understand that they will only be carrying cargo through the province...no passengers...so their western Canadian routes will stop.

catch the bus at the bus depot in winnipeg. Winnipeg to Saskatoon would still exist. But Winnipeg to Brandon ( even though its the same bus) would not.

That's not what Greyhound has stated. No passenger service in Manitoba. Period.

Its says intercity... which usually means the old greygoose lines.

There is no way that they will force people to stay on the bus from Toronto to Saskatoon without letting them out at least once.

"Federal Transport Minister John Baird said Greyhound Canada is trying to bully the provinces by announcing the service cuts. The company is being "heavy-handed" in an effort to get subsidies from provincial governments, Baird said."


The fed's have control over the intra-city bus regulations, but delegates that control to the provinces....so I guess it's our provincial governments fault?

Or is it just a attention getter from Greyhound?

Sounds like a really crappy way of doing business tho...I don't remember them singing this song a few weeks ago when they opened the new terminal...business was good back then? Pfffit!

JT Estoban wrote:Or is it just a attention getter from Greyhound?

Sounds like it. The ol' "Play the game my way or I'll take my ball and go home" routine...

Greyhound would pretty much cease to exist if they stopped taking pasengers on the main routes. I can understand them being ticked about some of the levels they are forced to maintain in some backwater places, but its not like those rules have changed much in the last 20 years.

Perhaps this will herald the return of railway service to certain areas?

nope. most of the rail lines to small towns have been removed unfortunately.

Ah well - this would have been the perfect opportunity for the railways to step up!