Area politicians, businesses and residents have shared concerns over last week’s announcement that Greyhound will no longer run passenger or freight buses in western Canada come Oct. 31.
Tim Coutts of Coutts’ Convenience in Creighton said the store has been a depot for Greyhound for the last 11 years. This isn’t the first time his business has been affected by a cessation of bus service. He said the impact of the news has been emotional.
“I went through it a year ago with STC,” Coutts said of the May 2017 closure of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company, which ran a bus route to and from Creighton.
“People are not using it enough, [but] there are definitely people that need it. There are people – I don’t know what they’re going to do, the same as [what happened with] STC. People that need to get out for medical, it’s too expensive to do the plane thing, and it’s hard.”
Coutts relayed a story of a former local customer who left town a year after the STC ceased operations to live somewhere with easier access to the medical services they required.
Coutts added businesses that use the bus service to send and receive parts overnight will be affected by the closure, and he expects local courier services will pick that business up.
“It’s more expensive, and that affects everything that happens in town – [everything will be] more expensive.”
“I don’t blame anything on Greyhound. They’re a company trying to make money. You can’t tell a company not to make money.”
The announcement that Greyhound bus services will end comes more than a year after Omnitrax abdicated its responsibility to fix its Hudson Bay Railway to Churchill when it suffered damages. As options for travel in northern Manitoba become more limited, Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey believes the provincial government should step in to run transportation services in Manitoba.
“Certainly, our community is going to be left in the lurch,” said Lindsey.
“There are a pile of people who use the bus to seek medical care in Winnipeg and in several of the other communities. People are going to be left wondering how to get from here to Winnipeg.”
The announcement that Greyhound will end its bus services came just after the Manitoba government put out a request for proposals to take over the province’s Lifeflight air ambulances. This could see services run by private companies for profit, which concerns Lindsey.
“So here we have Omnitrax that owns the railroad, and decide they don’t want to do it anymore…Greyhound decides they’re not making enough money…Imagine what happens if the people who own Lifeflight decide they aren’t going to make much money,” said Lindsey.
“I would think the government has a responsibility to do something. If they don’t like subsidizing private enterprise to run the service, they need to run the service … Sometimes the government has a responsibility to supply essential services. It’s not just about everything making money, it’s about people.”
The current Manitoba government said no money will be contributed to subsidizing a bus service. The previous NDP government subsidized Greyhound from 2009 to 2016 when it cut funding for the service.
Niki Ashton, MP for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski also believes public transportation for northern Manitobans should be a government responsibility.
“Corporate greed strikes again,” said Ashton.
“This is terrible news for our north. This is the time for governments to step in and work with First Nations and northern communities to provide public transportation for northern and rural people.”
Flin Flon resident Kathy Lloyd uses the bus to travel to medical appointments in The Pas, Dauphin and Winnipeg. She called the end to Greyhound bus services “a catastrophe.”
“It will have a major impact,” said Lloyd.
“The other thing is maybe family members, but there are people who don’t have family members and still need to get to Winnipeg. How are they going to get there?”
A spokesperson from the Northern Health Region said the organization is reviewing the impact the bus service cuts will have and will form a plan once the full extent of that impact is known.
Flin Flon mayor Cal Huntley said Flin Flon city council is disappointed Greyhound will no longer service the community.
“The impact, not only to our community but to northern Manitoba in general is great,” said Huntley.
“We have seen the results of a similar decision on the Saskatchewan side. The results will be felt most greatly by the elderly and lower income residents of our area, and those without a strong family support system, limiting or making access to some essential services provided in [southern Manitoba] much more difficult and costly.”
As the announcement has been recent, Huntley said council has not had a chance to formalize a strategy to the address the issue. He added that he believes it may be approached collectively through the Association of Manitoba Municipalities with the support of all communities due to the widespread nature of the effects of the decision.
Creighton mayor Bruce Fidler said the service cuts will leave people out in the cold.
“It’s ridiculous. It really is. I know the government has already said nothing is going to be subsidized, but not everybody can afford to just jump on a plane – it’s so expensive. It’s very disappointing.”
While some communities left without bus routes may be accommodated by Ontario-based company Kasper Transportation, Flin Flon currently is not one of them.
On July 9, Kasper Transportation announced it will service direct routes from Winnipeg to Regina to Saskatoon to Prince Albert, as well as a route from Winnipeg to Thompson beginning on Oct. 31. There are no plans to connect to Flin Flon at this time, though Kasper Wabinski, owner of Kasper Transportation said the company would like to run a route to Flin Flon.
“Flin Flon has definitely been a destination that we want. We’ve been wanting to connect there for a while. We’ll have to look at our plan,” said Wabinski.
“We have to work through the details over the next few weeks.”
– With files from Eric Westhaver
