Greyhound Canada and the Province of Manitoba announced Oct. 28 that the company has agreed to continue providing bus service in the province as the two sides continue to work toward a long-term resolution to regulations that the bus company says make its operations in the province unprofitable.
"We are pleased that Greyhound has agreed to work on options to keep buses running in the province despite the significant financial challenges facing the company," said Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Ron Lemieux. "We are committed to develop made-in-Manitoba options in the short term and we will continue to impress upon the federal government that national support is needed to fully maintain the level of service that currently exists in our province and across the country."
The agreement came after a meeting Oct. 27.
"These discussions were positive and productive," said a statement released by Greyhound Canada. "As a consequence, Greyhound Canada is able to confirm that it will maintain bus passenger service in the province."
Greyhound's release also said that both the government and the company agree that "some combination of direct investment and reduction of service will be required."
Lemiuex also said a reduction in future service is likely.
Before the agreement was reached, Greyhound Canada had stopped selling tickets for travel past Nov. 1.
Greyhound previously gave the federal and provincial governments an ultimatum on Sept. 3, announcing it would pull its buses out of Manitoba and northwestern Ontario within 30 days if it didn't receive $15 million a year in subsidies, citing problems with provincial regulations mandating service on unprofitable routes in the north and in rural areas.
Lemieux announced late on the afternoon of Sept. 16 that Greyhound bus service would continue in Manitoba, and that there would be no layoffs of company employees.
Before Lemieux's announcement, around 200 people employed by Greyhound were expecting two-week layoff notices on Sept. 17 or 18.
In June, Greyhound applied to the Manitoba Motor Transport Board - which regulates bus service in the province - to discontinue service on its Flin Flon-Thompson route as well as a van service operating between Snow Lake and Ponton. Hearings on the application were held in Flin Flon, Snow Lake and Thompson in July.
Greyhound spokesperson Peter Hamel told attendees at the Thompson hearing July 9 that the Northern Manitoba region had seen a 33 per cent decline in ridership since 2005, including a 16 per cent drop on the Thompson-Flin Flon route in the past year.
