Greyhound cancelling bus service in province

grumpy old man wrote:Are the buses empty because of low ridership or poor management?

yes?

Deank wrote:

JTF wrote:Why the hell should I have to pay for a bus service to some frickn' remote community because somebody chooses to live apart from the rest of us?

If you wish to live in Plum Coulee, buy a car!

Pretty much same arguement for remote Winnipeg Transit service then no? The provincial and federal government heavily subsidize transit, never mind the amount of our tax dollars that go into it.... Is this something that should be dropped as well?

No, Winnipeg Transit is run by the municipal government. Greyhound is a private entity.

grumpy old man wrote:Are the buses empty because of low ridership or poor management?

Its a good question, but the answer is owed to the shareholders of Greyhound.

Freeman wrote:

Deank wrote:

JTF wrote:Why the hell should I have to pay for a bus service to some frickn' remote community because somebody chooses to live apart from the rest of us?

If you wish to live in Plum Coulee, buy a car!

Pretty much same arguement for remote Winnipeg Transit service then no? The provincial and federal government heavily subsidize transit, never mind the amount of our tax dollars that go into it.... Is this something that should be dropped as well?

No, Winnipeg Transit is run by the municipal government. Greyhound is a private entity.

for now... considering what some politicians are suggesting....

Lets take this situation apart piece by piece. Greyhound has to have alicense to run a bus service in the province. This goes beyond the safety angle of safe uses and drivers, but they need a license to operate and the province says if you want to operate in this province, then you have to service these little towns, and Greyhound goes along with it as they can subsidize those routes from the profits of the bigger routes, so they get their license.

As the world turns, things change, fuel prices go up, the economy takes a hit, a lot of bad PR from the McLean killing, so Greyhound can no longer subsidize the unprofitable routes and wants to give them up. The commies say no, you have to continue to operate your business in an unprofitable manner to provide service to locations that don't use your service enough to pay for itself. Greyhound says OK, then we'll just get the hell out of here.

The real problem is that the government should not be regulating which routes Greyhound services in the first place. As long as they operate iwthin the province in a safe manner, which can easily be regulated, and they pay their taxes, why should government dictate where they have to run.

If a retailer offers an unprofitable line of mens underwear, does the province tell them that they must continue to make it available for the few that are so cheap they will wear uncomfortable underwear? No, so why do they dictate to Greyhound that they must provide service on unprofitable runs.

Yesterday, as this story broke, I was driving my daughter back to Brandon. SHe oftens takes the bus, but I do pick her up and take her back so we have time together and if she has some extra baggage. As we were listening to this story, her immediate thought was, if Greyhound actually discontinues service, that I should start up a shuttle service from Brandon to Winnipeg, as her estimation is there is a sufficient demand. Not bad thinking for a Music Ed student. Surely there have to be some entrepeneurs out there that can develop a business plan and fill the gaps if Greyhound does follow through.

Form my experience, many bus travellers are travelling back and forth to the city from reserves. Isn't this another opportunity for First Nations to participate in the economy. Instead of wo is me, why not look at this as an opportunity for some home grown businesses to pick up the slack?

I meant "are the Winnipeg Transit buses empty because of low ridership or poor management?".

I do understand Greyhounds position very well. Frankly I'm surprised they lasted this long.

Well said Freeman. I was just gonna say the exact same thing. Except my daughter does not have excess baggage. That seems like a rather personal comment though don't ya think?

Greyhound gets rewarded a monopoly on the service, and to get that monopoly they must service the crappier areas.

Lets look at this a different way. without that monopoly I could start Dean's Winnipeg to The Pas transit service today. Use a 12 seat Van have it with 8-10 people each way at a low low price of $50 per person. Undercutting Greyhounds cost and time. $120 for gas each way and Dean clears $500 per day. But then I would not have to service the lower producing markets.

But then someone else might service those areas. Or Greyhound lowers their rates or increases their services to compete with Deank Bus Services and Booze Emporium. Competition is a GOOD thing...

I never said competition was not good.

All I am saying is that Greyhound is currently "allowed" to not have any competition based on the fact that they take the hit of servicing the unprofitable areas. So its not like they have not had a huge "win" going for several years.

Is the booze included in the low low $50 price?

Airt Mattrèssor wrote:Is the booze included in the low low $50 price?

hell NO!... People from up north drink like damn fish!

but I will haul your hose around real cheap..

Despite what the FP says, the story is NOT about Greyhound going bankrupt, or about some connection to Tim McLean's murder (I haven't read the FP story yet) and business being slower since then.
The story is really about the Feds or Provinces taking ownership of Greyhound like the Province of Sask has done re: provincial bus company.
Even though I like trains and prefer riding Via when I can, in the times I've used Greyhound they've always had professional drivers and have had excellent customer service.
Why change it now?

Deank wrote:Greyhound gets rewarded a monopoly on the service, and to get that monopoly they must service the crappier areas.

Lets look at this a different way. without that monopoly I could start Dean's Winnipeg to The Pas transit service today. Use a 12 seat Van have it with 8-10 people each way at a low low price of $50 per person. Undercutting Greyhounds cost and time. $120 for gas each way and Dean clears $500 per day. But then I would not have to service the lower producing markets.

So, government interference by providing a single business with a monoploy is the cause for this. Just goes to prove that regulation at this level is not healthy for business.

I think I'll buy an old bus and do Winnipeg - Thompson - Winnipeg three times a week. People will travel on my schedule and if it's not profitable then I will quit. That's how the business world works - until some government decides to get involved.

But to get licensed the guburment will insist you add Leaf Rapids and Lynn Lake 10 times daily.

Evil Doer knows best.

When I lived in Lynn Lake I used that bus service to ship my galleys off to the printer, to receive my printed products for distribution, to take rides to Thompson or Leaf, or on a more mundane note, to receive my day old copies of the Freep and Sun...this was in the time before the net. Lynn Lake in many ways is still quite isolated as we witnessed with the microwave tower situation earlier this summer.....I have no idea as to what the ridership is for the north but on the occasions when I used buses they were packed.

grumpy old man wrote:Well said Freeman. I was just gonna say the exact same thing. Except my daughter does not have excess baggage. That seems like a rather personal comment though don't ya think?

All daughters have excess baggage, and in spite of my best efforts, he still hangs around with her.

You've got one of those too eh.

Freeman wrote:

grumpy old man wrote:Well said Freeman. I was just gonna say the exact same thing. Except my daughter does not have excess baggage. That seems like a rather personal comment though don't ya think?

All daughters have excess baggage, and in spite of my best efforts, he still hangs around with her.

often drives her to and from Brandon eh?

^

Deank wrote:

Freeman wrote:

grumpy old man wrote:Well said Freeman. I was just gonna say the exact same thing. Except my daughter does not have excess baggage. That seems like a rather personal comment though don't ya think?

All daughters have excess baggage, and in spite of my best efforts, he still hangs around with her.

often drives her to and from Brandon eh?

I don't hang around with my daughter, I just do the heavy lifting for her. Its a little give and take, I give, she takes.

Gawd we've got a lot in common.

What ever happened to Grey Goose bus lines?

As far as I'm concerned Grey Hound can suck the bail out money out of my feces. No bail out for them. The government should keep out of private business's affairs. Live in a small town, population 200. Get a car or stay put.

LivingDead wrote:What ever happened to Grey Goose bus lines?

Got shot down last hunting season