VANCOUVER - Greyhound Canada has applied to regulators in British Columbia to drop five routes, four of them in northern B.C., as the company deals with plunging ridership.
Greyhound calls the decision “regrettably unavoidable” in a news release but says there has been a 51 per cent drop in riders since 2010, along with higher costs and increased competition from publicly subsidized services.
Routes that would be eliminated include a 718 kilometre run along Highway 16, the so-called Highway of Tears, between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
After dozens of murders and disappearances of women along that highway, the province, local governments and BC Transit launched a subsidized route in June connecting Burns Lake, Prince George and Smithers, mirroring portions of the Greyhound route.
The company has also applied to drop its routes from Prince George to Valemount, Prince George to Dawson Creek, Dawson Creek to Whitehorse and Victoria to Nanaimo.
A company spokeswoman says the application has just been filed with the B.C.'s passenger transportation branch and no changes will happen this year.
