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Greyhound cutting route to valley
Greyhound Canada continues to suffer from declines in ridership across the country and the latest route to come under the scissor snip of corporate retreat is one of the company’s most scenic.
Due to a lack of ridership, Greyhound has announced it is terminating a route between Calgary and the Columbia Valley.
The provincial Passenger Transportation Board has approved the termination of service and the last bus through the valley will be next week.
According to an Oct. 7 CBC report, Greyhound stated only one person a day utilized the Calgary to Radium Hot Springs and Invermere service and like numerous other routes around the country that are suffering from declines in ridership, it made sense to shut it down.
Greyhound has threatened to pull the service several times in the past 15 years but this time it is for certain.
District of Invermere Mayor Gerry Taft told CBC the news is disappointing as seasonal workers, so important to the Columbia Valley’s tourism industry, utilize the service to get in and out of the valley.
“In my mind it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Greyhound doesn’t want to be in the passenger business, so they do a poor job of doing it so they can cut passenger service and focus on freight,” Taft told CBC.
“We also sometimes have seniors, and other times we have people who don’t feel comfortable driving in winter conditions, so it is disappointing,” he said, adding the company rarely advertised the service and was inconsistent in its schedule.
With tongue in cheek, Taft took to Facebook to remind residents there is an alternative route available for valley bus riders.
“It’s pretty stupid… but don’t worry, you can take the bus through golden… it will only take 10 hours between Calgary and Radium. You would have to leave Calgary at 10:30 p.m. to arrive in radium at 8:45 a.m. There are flights to Europe that are faster! I think I would prefer walking,” he said.
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