Update: 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.
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Earlier story
Greyhound Canada will be eliminating service on a number of routes around B.C., including Victoria to Nanaimo, but a local company could be stepping up to take over.
Victoria-to-Vancouver, the only other Greyhound route connected to the Island, is also being officially dropped even though it has not operated for several years.
The Island routes are part of a package of routes approved for cancellation by the Passenger Transportation Board.
“It’s a service that should be there,” Langford Mayor Stew Young said of the Victoria-to-Nanaimo run. “Bus transportation is important all over B.C.”
Island-based Wilson’s Transportation Ltd. has applied to operate on the route. The plans are to have a minimum of one morning run from Victoria to Nanaimo and a return trip later in the day.
Wilson’s president and owner John Wilson has said service could be increased depending on seasonal demand. He said taking on the route would be a “natural transition” for the company.
Greyhound said on its website that its application to cancel routes “is a regrettably unavoidable response to a challenging transportation environment that is characterized by diminishing ridership, escalating costs and increased competition from publicly subsidized services.”
The board said in its decision that it heard from many people regarding the Greyhound application.
“They said that service reductions increase public safety concerns, especially in areas where transportation options are limited and winters are harsh,” the decision said.
“They also said that Greyhound provides a necessary service to some people.”
But the decision also said that Greyhound’s ridership has declined by 30 per cent in the past five years and it is losing about $35,000 per day in B.C. Financial losses in the province over the past six years are approximately $70 million, the decision said.
Greyhound will now operate only freight service on the Island.
