Greyhound bowing out, but Victoria-Nanaimo route still covered

Although Greyhound Canada will be cancelling its Victoria-to-Nanaimo bus run, service is still available from Tofino Bus All Island and IslandLink Bus Services, with B.C. Transit active on parts of the route.

As well, the Wilson’s Transportation application to serve the route was declined by the Passenger Transportation Board but the company is reassessing the issue, said president and owner John Wilson.

He said he thinks being turned down came in large part because Greyhound was still operating when the application was made. “We’re going to re-look at the application once Greyhound comes up with a date that they’re going to stop running.”

Greyhound has said it is losing money on the route.

Tofino Bus already offered service between Victoria and Nanaimo when Greyhound applied to stop, and was then approved by the board to give service to smaller communities along the way.

When Greyhound stopped going to Tofino in 2006, Tofino Bus stepped in to ensure service to affected communities, said company president and founder Dylan Green. Tofino Bus took a similar step when Greyhound pulled out of Port Hardy, Campbell River and Courtenay in 2015.

Green said his company is able to make Island routes work because of the cumulative effect of service offered to a wide range of areas, including Victoria to Nanaimo.

“The combination of our total Island traffic with the new local Nanaimo-Victoria traffic that Greyhound’s carrying, that’s why we’re going to be successful,” he said.