The grey ghost: could Greyhound Service come back to Fort St. John?

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Greyhound Bus Service was once the symbol for the long-distance traveller who preferred to take the roads than fly.

In Canada, the intercity bus service traced its roots back to the 1920s, when routes ran from Nelson to Kaslo, Nakusp and Trail. Eventually, the Canadian version of Greyhound was acquired by its American counterpart in 1940.

It is also interesting to note the bus service had a hand in building the Alaska Highway. According to the blog, Explore North, 12 “37-passenger buses” were commissioned in Dawson Creek, when the highway was in its infancy in 1943.

While maintaining a presence to the tourist public, overexpansion, declining ridership and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic caused Greyhound service in Canada to come to a screeching halt in 2021 nationwide, after the announcement service would be suspended in Western Canada three years earlier.

In the interim, Greyhound was bought by German discount bus service FlixBus. The company has said it has plans to expand into the Canadian market, with the announcement of incoming bus services in Western Canada.

According to a recent article by Business in Vancouver, bus lines are being planned by Greyhound between Vancouver and Calgary, Kamloops and Kelowna. 

Rather than be responsible for the entire line, FlixBus plans to outsource the service to local contractors who licence the Greyhound name.  

The proposal recently received support from Vernon council. 

This begs the question – with a lack of inter provincial bus service in the North – could we see the return of Greyhound buses up and down the Alaska Highway?

While nothing is official yet, Fort St. John resident E. Louise Cann Vanderlinde welcomes a possible Greyhound return to Northern B.C., saying her parents used the old service quite regularly.

“My elderly mother would like to see the service return,” Vanderlinde wrote to Energeticcity.ca. “She and my late father rode it up many times from the lower mainland and loved it.”

“There is more of a market now than ever, given the higher population base and more people commuting from southern communities.”

Meanwhile, Crystal Teichroeb wrote she travelled on Greyhound “many times as a young girl,” adding the service was “very helpful for visiting others when you didn’t have a vehicle.”

Greyhound’s parent company, FlixBus, revealed in a statement it is “proud to expand intercity bus service across Canada,” adding it “works closely with local authorities and follows all regulatory requirements and processes.”

“We are excited about the prospect of potentially serving residents of British Columbia and appreciate the support from local stakeholders as we explore opportunities in the market,” reads the conclusion of the statement.

Energeticcity.ca reached out to BC Bus North service for possible reaction, and will update this story should more information become available.