Greyhound is Gone

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

This is exciting. I hope the greyhound station is demolished and that area can be turned into a retail and entertainment area.

Is the site contaminated?

Only with whatever the bus riders contaminated it with.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

dumb question

with Alberta (and the prairies) being small population wise, couldn't we run smaller 20 seater buses with really comfortable seats and charger higher prices?

People might go for that. Will someone start that company to fill this void? How does Red Arrow survive?

It's been tried in the past and didn't work.

Low interest and high costs has resulted in the Town of High River withdrawing from the On It regional transit pilot entirely.

The project will end February 28th for the Town in spite of Southland Transportation taking the program over.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass says with only 4 to 6 users per day it wasn't economically sound for the town to continue to offer the service.

“During the pilot project we saw low ridership numbers with only 4-6 users per day,” said Craig Snodgrass, Mayor of High River. “The pilot was developed and implemented by the Calgary Regional Partnership, and with the CRP being dissolved, combined with low interest and high costs in High River, we decided to withdraw from the regional transit pilot entirely.”

In a joint press release from the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) and Southland Transportation, representatives announced that Southland Transportation has agreed to take over ownership and management of the On-It Regional Transit system assets from CRP, but this does not include the continuation of the pilot transit bus services to and from High River.

The Town of High River along with Black Diamond and Turner Valley withdrew from the On It Regional Transportation Pilot last month, prior to this ownership transfer announcement.

https://www.highriveronline.com/loca...for-high-river

[Ozy_Flame]

That site is contaminated. Contamination even spreads across the river. Even the CBC building location is also contaminated if I recall correctly.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

That site is contaminated. Contamination even spreads across the river. Even the CBC building location is also contaminated if I recall correctly.

And I doubt they even know the half of that contamination.

Theres all kinds of old stories and rumours like the maintenance guys burying old batteries and pouring out Diesel and such. I dont know how much of those rumours are true but the way Greyhound half-assed most of their operations it wouldnt surprise me in the slightest.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Locke

And I doubt they even know the half of that contamination.

Theres all kinds of old stories and rumours like the maintenance guys burying old batteries and pouring out Diesel and such. I dont know how much of those rumours are true but the way Greyhound half-assed most of their operations it wouldnt surprise me in the slightest.

Not to mention the creosote that was the original contamination in the area . . . years of having a transportation hub as well as the Mercedes dealership/autoshop next door - and even the Dodge dealership down the street - likely means it's contaminated with a variety of chemicals.

I can't imagine how much all of that cleanup is going to cost, It's going to be staggering.

[RM14]

As we heard in the past few years, the City or Province do not feel it is an urgent matter to clean it up.

In the meantime, I wonder if it becomes an inner-city distribution centre for Wal-Mart or Amazon in the delivery wars.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by RM14

In the meantime, I wonder if it becomes an inner-city distribution centre for Wal-Mart or Amazon in the delivery wars.

I think there’s a better chance of calgaryNext being built there. And I think that is also highly unlikely.

[RM14]

I wonder then if Greyhound paid much taxes being there.

It is a City owned building. How much lost revenue (lease and business tax) to the City if they don't find a user for the building? Assuming it will be 10+ years before they decide to go ahead with West Village.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by RM14

I wonder then if Greyhound paid much taxes being there.

It is a City owned building. How much lost revenue (lease and business tax) to the City if they don't find a user for the building? Assuming it will be 10+ years before they decide to go ahead with West Village.

Is it?

[para transit fellow]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

dumb question

with Alberta (and the prairies) being small population wise, couldn't we run smaller 20 seater buses with really comfortable seats and charger higher prices?

People might go for that. Will someone start that company to fill this void? How does Red Arrow survive?

With smaller vehicles, you still have a labour cost that is 50 to 60 percent of the cost of transportation.

[RM14]

Originally Posted by Locke

Is it?

yeah.

Near the bottom of the Herald article https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...greyhound-cuts:

"The Greyhound building in Calgary is owned by the city, so Greyhound will be working with the city to exit the lease and sell its assets."

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Not to mention the creosote that was the original contamination in the area . . . years of having a transportation hub as well as the Mercedes dealership/autoshop next door - and even the Dodge dealership down the street - likely means it's contaminated with a variety of chemicals.

I can't imagine how much all of that cleanup is going to cost, It's going to be staggering.

From what I remember during the whole CalgaryNext issue, the creosote contamination doesn't spread as far as the Greyhound depot. It's mostly under Renfrew Chrysler, Bow Trail, and the western part of the GSL lot.

There's an image on page 12 of this document showing the extent of the contamination: https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...+18+16+V16.pdf


That said, after decades as home to the Greyhound station, the land underneath it will have its own environmental concerns, but nothing to the extent of the creosote.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by SebC

I would assume that those who can't transport themselves and live in rural areas don't have a lot of viable choices.

yeah, but #### poor people

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

yeah, but #### poor people

Its not Greyhound's responsibility to take care of them at their own expense.

If you choose to live in a remote rural area with limited access then those are decisions that you make.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by Locke

Its not Greyhound's responsibility to take care of them at their own expense.

If you choose to live in a remote rural area with limited access then those are decisions that you make.

If you made the choice to live there many years ago when the bus was a good option and suddenly you have a few months to figure something else out, it's a tough spot to be in. Depending on the location it may not be possible to sell a home and come away with enough to live anywhere else.

Not Greyhound's responsibility at all, but saying, "Oh well, you chose to live there," seems a little harsh to me.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Locke

Its not Greyhound's responsibility to take care of them at their own expense.

No, but it may be government's.

[getbak]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1016773045762043904

[CaptainYooh]

"Access to transportation around our country is a national issue."

Of course, it is. It's a huge country with a very small population dispersed all over it. But why is it on the Government (i.e. taxpayers) to solve the transportation access problem for remote communities? Residence location clearly is people's choice that is relatively easily adjusted. If transportation to remote areas was profitable, it would have been serviced by private business already. Obviously, it is not.

[Ozy_Flame]

This is just screaming for private sector intervention, but perhaps based on a more innovative and complete business model. But not sure how that gets done.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

Residence location clearly is people's choice that is relatively easily adjusted.

Relocating people is easy relative to providing a bus service?