Greyhound Threatens to Cut Service in Canada

According to The Winnipeg Free Press and Yahoo News, Canada, Greyhound has decided they are going to cut bus services to Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario unless the Canadian government ponies up some funds to help offset costs of fewer riders taking the bus in the poor economy. Some feel this is yet another squeeze by a big company taking advantage of their necessary position in the communities.

Greyhound provides bus services throughout Canada and the United States. For some of the smaller and more remote communities the Greyhound bus service is their only option for travel between cities and towns or between the provinces. Manitoba and Ontario are in the middle of the country. That is a bit like removing the heart of the business for cross-country travelers and deliveries,

They are also looking into possibly eliminating some areas of service to British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northern Territories and the Yukon.

The buses may still be traveling offering their other services like package delivery so why drop off the rider services? Running a huge bus with no passengers seems wasteful.

Greyhound has been building new higher tech buses for certain routes between Canada and the United States. The buses have new features like extra leg room, outlets for electronic gear and chargers and wireless service for computer users. They are also making the buses more green friendly.

In Winnipeg, Greyhound just completed building a new seven million dollar terminal closer to the airport. The new one story terminal is built to accommodate the larger buses that the older terminal near Balmoral and Portage could not handle. The old terminal was fine for its day but crammed in the corner of busy streets downtown, it wasn't sufficient to deal with newer buses. The location was not great for drivers picking up riders or delivering them either.

Greyhound has the funds for these improvements but not to keep services running? They may be in some financial need considering the economy in both The United States and Canada but if they stop services altogether how will that help them?

This sounds like a bargaining ploy to get the Canadian government to chip in and help pay for keeping the bus service going. If the regulations in Canada require that Greyhound offers their services to outlying communities then maybe they should be willing to help the company. It is one lifeline to outer areas.

However, Winnipeg is no outlying area. It is a city of in the center of Canada with over 700,000 residents, an international airport and a fully functioning train system. It is a hub for all the outlying areas and stopping point in cross-country travel. I seriously doubt they want to shut down a brand new facility that will be an increased source of income, especially being located closer to the Winnipeg airport now.

The Greyhound company is looking for more resources to help them offset costs and apparently, they feel the Canadian government should help foot the bill.

Is this another big company trying to grab on for whatever governments will dole out in order to keep the economies afloat? They are in talks now. Hopefully they don't cut off their own noses to spite their faces and cut off lifelines in the Canadian provinces. Are they going to try this in The United States next? It worked for banks.

Yahoo News, Canada

Winnipeg Free Press