Greyhound seeks cuts or reductions to bus routes in B.C.

Just weeks after Greyhound Canada asked for permission to cut a number of bus routes in British Columbia, more information is emerging about requested cuts to service throughout the province. (Photo: Greyhound Bus/Facebook)

VANCOUVER — Just weeks after Greyhound Canada asked for permission to cut a number of bus routes in British Columbia, more information is emerging about requested cuts to service throughout the province.

Documents on the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board website show Greyhound has applied to eliminate a total of nine routes, including Prince Rupert to Prince George and Dawson Creek to the Yukon boundary.

Additional routes that Greyhound hopes to abandon include one from the University Endowment Lands in Vancouver to Whistler, and Victoria to Vancouver.

Peter Hamel, Western Canada regional vice-president for Greyhound Canada, says in a statement that the company will be meeting with northern B.C. mayors at their request in October to provide details on the proposed changes.

Hamel said mayors were notified Sept. 13 and notice of the changes is also being posted at the local agencies so that the public can submit questions.

A Greyhound spokeswoman says the changes require regulatory approval, nothing is confirmed until this occurs and there will be no changes to routes in 2017.

The company has also applied to scale back the frequency of 10 routes including those linking Vancouver to Pemberton, Kelowna, Osoyoos, Prince George and the Alberta boundary.

Several other routes through the southern Interior and Similkameen are also slated for service reductions, with Greyhound applying to trim twice-daily service between Kamloops and Kelowna, via Vernon, to twice a week.

In August, Greyhound defended its application to stop service along Highway 16, the so-called Highway of Tears, citing high costs and low ridership, but Cache Creek Mayor John Ranta says Greyhound, not small communities, is responsible for the service reductions.

“Slowly I am seeing a deterioration of service to rural communities through no fault of our own but through questionable management decisions on the part of Greyhound,” Ranta says.

If the cuts and reductions are approved by the Passenger Transportation Board, Cache Creek would see a drop in service when Greyhound’s run from Vancouver to Prince George is scaled back.

Greyhound has said it is continuing its discussions with provincial and federal officials regarding options for transportation in rural areas.

Officials with the Passenger Transportation Board could hold public consultations as part of the decision process on Greyhound’s application and its website shows the board will accept written comments about the application until Oct. 13.