Local leaders said they are upset by a Greyhound Canada announcement July 9 that effective Oct. 31, there would be no more service provided for Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
This means all Greyhound services in Athabasca, Boyle, Barrhead, Westlock, Lac La Biche and surrounding areas will be shut down.
Lac La Biche County mayor Omer Moghrabi said this decision will create a line between rural and urban living.
"It would be a shame for any provincial or federal government to stand by and put another nail in coffin for providing services for rural Albertans," Moghrabi said. "The company has already been slowly peeling services away from us, and it affects our most vulnerable part of the population."
Village of Boyle mayor Colin Derko echoed those concerns. He said it would have a huge impact on the entire region.
"This will not only affect passenger service within the region, but it will affect parcels and other items that are shipped through Greyhound," Derko said. "Packages to Fort McMurray were overnight, and passengers who needed a ride to either Fort McMurray or Edmonton could just get on the Greyhound. But now, it's going to be a little bit tougher."
Derko added that he does not know what the population of each of the four provinces are going to do without this service being provided.
"The village has citizens who use that bus quite regularly," he said. "I find it ironic that the province just created its two-year Rural Transportation Pilot Program in order to bolster rural transportation, and then all of a sudden Greyhound pulls out any and all transportation that we have in terms of our rural population. It's some mixed messages coming from our provincial government and from private enterprise."
Greyhound's regional vice-president for Western Canada Peter Hamel said in a July 12 email that the company has proudly provided services in Alberta for decades.
"Since 2010 however, market conditions for intercity transportation services have become increasingly challenging," Hamel said. "Despite best efforts over several years, ridership has dropped by 40 per cent in Alberta, province-wide. We sympathize with the many small towns and rural areas such as Athabasca, where we have proudly provided service. But simply put, we can no longer operate unsustainable routes.”
In a statement made July 11, Premier Rachel Notley said she would bring up the Greyhound decision during the Council of the Federation meeting July 18 and 20 in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick.
"The company's decision significantly diminishes transportation options for hundreds of people throughout Western Canada," Notley said in the statement. "It will potentially harm the economy and quality of life for tens of thousands of people."
Notley added she hoped to see the premiers and the federal government work on common solutions in dealing with rural transportation.
"We need to ensure western Canadians, particularly those living in rural areas, including many Indigenous communities, have access to the transportation services they deserve," she said in the statement.
But the shutdown of Greyhound may allow other smaller bus carriers to expand. They include Northland Travels Ltd., which first opened April 3 in Lac La Biche. It currently takes passengers from pick-up points in Lac La Biche and Boyle, and drops them off at Edmonton's Belvedere LRT station.
Owner Rico Fechner said he can definitely see a pickup in business for his company, especially in the winter time.
"With the Greyhound shutdown, it will likely open up a few more doors for us," Fechner said. "Opening up new routes in the area is also a possibility. I have actually scheduled a meeting with the minister of transportation in Edmonton within the next two to three weeks to possibly implement more routes, and maybe even include Athabasca."
But, Fechner cautions that it could mean purchasing a new bus unit, and organize any new route with Transport Canada.
"The way it stands right now, Greyhound will still operate until the end of October," he said. "So that will give us a little bit of time to work things out and hopefully get something good out of this. Because we definitely need transportation services in these areas, and as it stands right now, we do not have much."
