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Jonny5

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http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/09/03/greyhound-bus-stoppage.html

The intercity bus company says it is giving 30 days notice to the Manitoba Highway Traffic Board so that passenger tickets sold to date in that province can be honoured.

In Ontario, Greyhound is giving 90 days notice to the Ontario Highway Transport Board, meaning Greyhound service in northwestern Ontario will stop as of Dec. 2.

The company, based in Burlington, Ont., also says it is reviewing its operations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

Stuart Kendrick, senior vice-president of Greyhound Canada, says the company is in a "dire" financial situation, and that government is to blame.

He says "we are no longer in a position to absorb losses that are almost solely attributable to government policies."

"Dire financial situation". I wonder what situation the other companies are in and if more cuts are forthcoming. GO may have to step up to the plate.
 
Is it just coincidence that Greyhound is pulling out of Northwestern Ontario shortly after Porter Airlines service to Northwestern Ontario began? Maybe this is an opportunity for Porter to move into Kenora and/or Dryden.
 
Bus companies have to prop up “unprofitable route services to small-town Canada through an intricate web of cross-subsidies from their profitable passenger routes, from bus parcel operations and from ancillary profit sources,†Greyhound said.

Globe and Mail
 
Hope the feds come in with some funding to help these communities keep their commuter connections up and running.
 
I hope the feds dont offer funding. It is time to re-establish the rail connections that have been lost and make bus service a feeder service for the rail network and make the rail network a feeder for the air network.
 
But what are the economics of passenger rail line construction, today, in that part of the country?
 
I wonder if this even means the end of the cross-Canada Greyhound bus service, which would strand peope without cars in places like Wawa, Marathon, Dryden, Kenora. Thunder Bay would only have the airport, it being way off VIA's only remaining transcontinental route. Funny thing, because of VIA, small places like Chapleau (the remote RDC) and Sioux Lookout and Hornepayne would at least have thrice-weekly trains.

Ontario Northland goes as far up Highway 11 as Hearst (from there all the way to Toronto!), with buses to Timmins as well from Highway 11 and Toronto-Sudbury, serving Northeastern Ontario quite well.
 
There are railways there already. The southern route which served Thunder Bay, Brandon, Regina, and Calgary could be reinstated without significant construction. The passenger route to Dauphin, Thompson, and Churchill has a train twice a week. The transcontinental which currently runs three times a week could be shifted to the CP tracks between Winnipeg and Saskatoon to more closely follow the Yellowhead highway. Throw in a few next-generation RDC replacements to run on the days the current trains don't and add a daily service on the CP line to Selkirk and Gimli and you get Manitoba service without a lot of construction.

RDC coaches were created for long thin routes. A new equivalent built more energy efficient should be brought into VIA's fleet so it can properly serve Canada. Many of the trains currently using locomotives are overkill.
 
Sure, so Greyhound cuts bus service, then the residents have to wait 5+ years for the government to get trains running? If the Canadian gets service 3x weekly, I wonder what these other places will get, 1x weekly?

In reality look at how crappy VIA's mainline trains are. The line to Churchill is delayed or canceled a lot. Since there are no roads, you can't drive, and since they are so far north, flying is very expensive. Something needs to be done to make the trains more reliable.

I would hope that some new coach lines enter the business, or maybe Coach Canada will snap up all of the lines.

Perhaps Manitoba and the other provinces can set up bus systems like the one in Saskatchewan?
 

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