The Passenger Transportation Board has approved Greyhound Canada Transportation's application to cut several of its routes throughout the province, including in the Peace Region. In total, the reduction applies to 15 routes in the province, including Dawson Creek to the Alberta border, Prince George and Fort St. John/Fort Nelson.
The minimum trips on Route G between Dawson Creek and the Alberta border have been reduced from a minimum of 2 a day to 1 and minimum weekly trips down to 14 from 28. Trips on Route I1 from Dawson Creek to Fort St. John en route to Fort Nelson are being reduced from a weekly minimum of 30 to 14, keeping a minimum of 1 per day. Route J from Dawson Creek to Prince George will see a reduction in minimum trips from 24 a week to 14, with a minimum of 1 per day.
In response to concerns presented by several municipalities and businesses, the Passenger Transportation Board points to the Northern Health Connections bus as still being available.
The bus company says it lost over $14 million in its 2011/2012 fiscal year due to increasingly high costs of fuel and maintenance, a reduction in ridership, and competition from B.C. Transit and the Interior and Northern Health Connections buses. With the approval of these reductions, Greyhound expects it will be able to save approximately $6.75 million annually.
Public notices about the reductions must be posted for 14 days.
Peace Region routes were last cut in 2009.
