District of Clearwater and the Joints Services Committee have less than two weeks to respond to news that Greyhound Canada is cutting its services, said Clearwater Mayor John Harwood. “This is catastropic to our community," he said.
“Clearwater will have only one bus going north and one bus going south per day,” he said.
“Anyone needing to use the transport service will need to purchase their tickets the day before as the only bus will be in the early morning hours, he said. There are no shelters or anywhere for passengers to wait. This is a real inconvenience to our community and businesses.” There are no easy solutions to this problem he felt.
Clearwater Pharmasave manager Sandy Nyberg said they don’t use the bus service on a daily basis. "It will effect us more in the winter when we use the service two-three times per week."
Greyhound Canada said in its submission to B.C. Passenger Board that it lost $14.1 million from scheduled passenger operations in B.C. in the 2011-2012 fiscal year. “This is unsustainable,” it stated in the submission.
The company said its losses were due to higher costs for fuel and maintenance, reduced ridership, an inflexible provincial regulatory regime that does not allow the Company to respond quickly to market and economic changes and unregulated competition from Province of BC agencies, including BC Transit and the Interior and Northern Health Authorities.
The community is urged to write in to Greyhound on or before Oct. 24 with their comments. You can do so at: B.C. Transportation Board, Box 9850 Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, B.C. V8W 9T5; or fax 250-953-3788; email ptboard@gov.bc.ca. Quote application 3305-12 / Route N.
To view the full application and route details visit http://www.greyhound.ca/Servicealerts/Default.aspx.