On Could 13, Greyhound “briefly” suspended all service all through Canada attributable to a practically 95 per cent drop in rider demand. Within the following months, main intercity bus providers throughout Canada have progressively resumed, however not Greyhound. There’s good cause to consider it by no means will.
This might be a catastrophe for a lot of Canadians who depend on intercity buses, as there’s at present no mass transit various to take Greyhound’s place. One of the best ways to keep away from this final result is by establishing a nationwide intercity bus service. Right here’s why, and the way, that ought to occur.
Inexpensive and dependable inter-city bus providers are important for tens of millions of Canadians. This contains working-class folks, college students and transit-oriented millennials. These providers are sometimes the one possibility obtainable to these in rural or northern areas of Canada. Furthermore, the motorcoach as a mode of transportation has an extremely low emission fee, second solely to high-speed rail. Even when operating on gasoline, intercity buses generate only one eighth the emission per capita of personal sedans.
Canadians are already struggling in Greyhound’s absence, as for many years it had been the one bus provider with a nationwide community. But as of late, even earlier than the service suspension, Greyhound has been failing to adequately meet this want for dependable transportation.
To begin, Greyhound has aggressively reduce providers through the years. In July 2018, for instance, they abruptly exited from Western Canada, ending service on what the federal government describes as “a community of over 11,000 route-kilometers affecting 583 stops and as much as 2 million passenger journeys per 12 months.”
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