Greyhound Canada announced plans on Monday to end service in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and northern Ontario at the end of October because of the losses stemming from a 41 percent drop in ridership since 2010. Greyhound’s US division will still operate a route between Vancouver and Seattle.
“Simply put, we can no longer operate unsustainable routes,” Greyhound Canada senior vice president Stuart Kendrick said in a statement.
Roughly two million passengers are expected to be affected by the closure along with 415 employees, according to Kendrick, mostly in remote cities and townships.
“It’s unfortunate that Greyhound did not communicate their plans sooner,” British Columbia transportation minister Claire Trevena said. “At no point did Greyhound reach out to me, or my staff, to have a conversation on solutions to keep people connected – something I would have expected, given their long history in this province.”
Kendrick acknowledged that Greyhound was often the only transportation option for many small towns.
“This decision is regretful and we sympathize with the fact that many small towns are going to lose service,” Kendrick told The Canadian Press. “But simply put, the issue that we have seen is the routes in rural parts of Canada – specifically western Canada – are just not sustainable anymore.”
