Greyhound Canada officials announced recently they were cutting all bus routes from northern Ontario to the Pacific Ocean as of Oct. 31 citing financial issues. Although Greyhound had been cutting back on its routes for a number of years, the bus line was still servicing many towns and cities throughout Western Canada.
Perhaps the government will announce an alternative for all areas affected but that would seem to be a very expensive and complicated undertaking. The Alberta government announced last week it would expand a rural transportation pilot program to service some of the affected routes.
It looks like others who use the Greyhound to get around will suffer. Who is it that takes the bus? I would imagine it would be mostly young people, seniors, middle- to low-income people. Anyone who either chooses not to drive or can't drive for whatever reason.
As a college student at the University of Victoria, I didn't have a lot of money. I certainly didn't have a vehicle for most of my college years. There was many a summer break and Christmas break when I took the Greyhound to visit my parents in the Interior of B.C.
Taking the bus generally meant taking a 10- to 12-hour trip with a bunch of strangers. For an introvert it can be rather daunting. For me, I would usually open up at some time and talk to some people. You met some interesting people on those bus trips.
I once took a bus to visit my sister and her family in Cranbrook. That was a 26-hour bus trip. That was a rough one. I'm not much for sleeping during road trips, whether by car or bus. It meant stretching out across the aisle, if you were lucky and it wasn't a packed bus. The buses I took seemed to roll into whatever town I was going at the most godawful time imaginable. Having a parent or friend pick you up at 5 a.m. wasn't much fun.
There was also the irrational (?) fear of being left behind. At each stop the bus driver would usually say how long you had, but it's not like they announced the re-boarding or anything or even counted heads. My fear came true one time in New Westminster when I was heading to the ferry to go back to Victoria.
I was grabbing a snack when I saw my bus pull out. I ran to catch it but to no avail as it pulled onto the road and drove away. I was just lucky it wasn't in the middle of nowhere like Merritt or Medicine Hat. I was able to catch a shuttle bus to the terminal and get to the ferry on time.
I haven't taken a Greyhound in awhile. I think it would be really tough now at my age but who knows. To me it was something I had to do. I don't know exactly why Greyhound is losing money. I mean, there are still "starving" students and others that don't have vehicles aren't there? No matter the reason, it's a bad deal for all concerned.
-Lindsay is the reporter for the Mountain View Gazette
