Greyhound to End Service in Manitoba

CBC News reported today that Greyhound will cease operations in Manitoba and Northwest Ontario if it does not receive government aid funding, about 15 million dollars worth.

The bus line is losing money in our province due to the large number of smaller communities that need servicing but do not have a lot of commuters. So the government has a few months to step up or we lose our bus service.

This is a pretty big deal, as it stands we have two methods of getting to Winnipeg if you are without a car. The only method that will be left standing is the Brandon Air Shuttle and since it’s quite smaller then Greyhound, it’ll cost you a lot more.

Now for some reason Greyhound still thinks it’s appropriate to be operating it’s huge buses on routes that get a few people per day.  Simple solution: Buy smaller vans. Save money on fuel and operational costs and they can still be converted to carry a good number of people and goods and if not, you could always attach a trailer to the back.

Another issue, didn’t Greyhound just spend over 10 million dollars revamping it’s terminal in Winnipeg? Obviously this announcement wasn’t made on the spot, so why have they been pumping all this money into a project that now is going to be scrapped? Seems like poor management rather then lack of funding.

But this whole situation does bring up an opportunity. Commuter train service at least between the cities of Winnipeg and Brandon can’t be out of the question. We need a method to travel quickly between the cities and the government has already been pushing for VIA Rail’s expansion in other parts of the country. This could be a prime time for the gov to step up it’s game in the prairie provinces and give us something to really look forward to.