I've recently been meditating on the sorry state of all forms of transportation within the Sea to Sky corridor.
The highway is a bit frustrating, what with closures and, of course, unsafe, overly-speedy and impatient drivers all over the place.
CN can't seem to keep its trains on the rails, and now it seems like Greyhound can't keep its buses on the road.
Twice this week I have had to drive outside of town to go pick up my wife, who commutes daily on the Greyhound to Vancouver. The first time, an accident on Georgia Street caused the commuter bus to detour along other streets, leaving some Squamish commuters waiting hours at their usual stops in the city, for a bus that never came.
Misinformation given over the phone at the Greyhound terminal in the city to stranded commuters had all those people shlep to the terminus to catch the last bus home, even though that final bus did, in fact, run down its normal route. I'm sure those commuters appreciated spending the extra cash for nothing.
Last night, the same commuter bus service stopped at Britannia Beach when the bus' engine started smoking. Similarly, last week another bus on the same line stranded riders for a while when it broke down, as well.
The Greyhound drivers had to rely on the kindness of commuters to call their offices for help, as they no longer have cellphones because of cutbacks, according to one bus driver. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
I often commute to Whistler on the Greyhound and over time have experienced my share of breakdowns, too. Usually, these things are understandable, as vehicles do break down every once in a while. But, when a company is letting down its regular paying customers as often as it did last week, not to mention what tourists using the service must think, something is definitely wrong. And, they are apparently increasing their fares, as well. Nice.
I hope that it was just a bad week for "the dog", and I won't be hustling down Highway 99 to collect a stranded wife again anytime soon.
Squamish is a bedroom community for both Whistler and Vancouver. We really need better options for commuting to those points north and south reliable and consistent service, which is something we do not have now.
As gas prices soar, more and more people are looking for alternatives for getting to work every day. There needs to be a better bus service or a train commuter service (but not from CN they've obviously and understandably lost a lot of trust in this community).
I think this should be an election issue. The person that can solve this transportation problem will certainly have my vote.
