The end of Greyhound bus service in western Canada come November creates a regional transit crisis that is hard to overstate.
Locally, many depend on the Greyhound to get to medical and other appointments and events or to visit family and friends.
Think of the child of divorce who comes to Squamish on the bus every other weekend to visit one of her parents — both of whom can’t afford a vehicle — and the senior without a drivers license for whom the bus has been a lifeline. To add insult to injury, Greyhound says this was a financial decision based on low ridership, but anecdotally, the local routes are often full or nearly so. Pacific Coach Lines does offer trips to and from the airport and there are ride “share” options that may work for some, but they won’t work for everyone who currently rides Greyhound to and from Squamish and beyond.
And there are even fewer options for those who live beyond Pemberton, as Indigenous leaders have been quick to point out, stressing they fear for those living in the remotest of locations. Bottom line — unless an affordable alternative is launched by fall, more vulnerable folks will likely be on the highway with their thumbs out — a risky option as the infamous Highway of Tears in Northern B.C. has proven. The private sector should not be responsible for our essential transportation needs. Regional transit needs to be a priority of the provincial NDP government — now.
Currently, a memorandum of understanding for regional transit is being circulated and signed by corridor leaders.
It proposes, among other routes, six round-trips per weekday and four round-trips on the weekend between Whistler, Squamish and Metro Vancouver.
Once signed it will be up to the province to come to the table with a funding agreement that all the parties can live with. This is often when the wheels come off the bus, so to speak, but for Heaven’s sake, figure it out.
Granted, the Liberal Party had 16 years in power to get regional transit up and running and didn’t, but the NDP ran on being for the lower income, the vulnerable, the worker. The response to this crisis will prove what the party, now in power, truly stands for. When Greyhound cut service along the Highway of Tears where 40 young women, often last seen hitchhiking, disappeared, the province stepped up with at least an interim service — BC Bus North — which includes the infamous route along Highway 16. Claire Trevena, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. offered a glimmer of hope for the rest of the province after Greyhound’s announcement on Monday.
“In the weeks and months ahead, I will be sitting down with other service providers, the private sector, and local government to discuss how we can ensure people have access to safe, reliable and affordable transportation to get from one community to the next,” Trevena said.
Please, get it done. There’s no time to waste.
