By Greg Fry

TNRD chair on Greyhound downsizing: ‘Disappointed but not surprised’

Jul 9, 2018 | 1:58 PM

CACHE CREEK — Greyhound Canada’s decision to halt its operations in Western Canada come October 31 this year due to declining ridership came as no surprise to Cache Creek Mayor and Thompson-Nicola Regional District Chair John Ranta.

“I wasn’t particularly surprised. I think the service that Greyhound is providing has been eroding over the years, at least in part because of competition from either local government, small bus services or from managerial incompetence,” he told CFJC Today. 

A retired Greyhound bus driver of 35 years himself, he doesn’t buy the union’s argument that things went south for the company once it relocated to the United States.

“You should be able to manage a company better than it was managed and they took a little bit of an arrogant attitude and thought they were the only game in town when really they weren’t,” Ranta said.

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“By not providing service at convenient times to the rural communities throughout the routes they lost business and small communities put in small little competing buses. Like services between Clinton and Ashcroft and Clearwater and Kamloops. Those services erode profitability for Greyhound.”

So, what does this mean for people in rural communities like Cache Creek?

“Small communities are going to be negatively impacted by this. People that live in small communities won’t have the option to take the bus to go to the doctor in Kamloops or visit relatives at Christmas time. Things like that.”

However Ranta believes both the private and public sectors will likely fill the void left by Greyhound.

“I’m sure there will be other small bus companies emerge after Greyhound’s exit.  I’m sure either the private or public sector will take a hard look at options for rural areas.”