Greyhound is Gone

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Locke

The thing is, in this day and age of high fuel costs and Carbon taxes, all those people living in Rural areas and skimping on Property taxes and what not are going to have to start paying because their lifestyle is an inconvenience to rest of the general population.

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

[Regular_John]

My lasting impression of Greyhound is the night I took the bus to Winnipeg to visit a friend.

Let me tell ya the old downtown Winnipeg bus depot was pure uncut "nope" on a dark January evening in -40. My buddy picking me up was like "This way, let's get in the car before we get mugged"... he wasn't kidding, sketchy as hell.

[Dion]

A good friend of mine is a former Greyhound bus driver. He says he saw this coming for years as Greyhound was unwilling to reduce fares in an effort to attract more ridership.

[4X4]

20 years ago, my sister got my car impounded in Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, and I had to take the Greyhound to go get it out. Never again. Ever.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by Locke

Well if your parents are in Saskatchewan that should be fine, last I remember Saskatchewan had their own Provincially owned bus line, when I was working at Greyhound, the bus stopped at Speedy Creek (Swift Current) and swapped to the Government owned Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) until they hit Manitoba.

With the NDP around in Alberta and BC thats almost certainly whats going to happen here as well. Government owned and operated Bus Transportation. So I wouldnt be too worried about it.

They'll probably even get a Carbon Tax Exemption.

Actually Saskatchewan got rid of their bus company a couple years ago. The Greyhound closure won't affect them (as the STC closure already did) but people in a similar situation will be affected.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by 4X4

20 years ago, my sister got my car impounded in Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, and I had to take the Greyhound to go get it out. Never again. Ever.

What did you do to your sister?

[Locke]

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.

Yup. Thats going to be tough. Hard choices are going to have to be made.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

That's my point though, in the UK no one really needs a coach with TV's a canteen serving snacks etc, that's just what they do to compete with cars trains etc.
If any place needs a luxury coach with a canteen and TV's its a 4 day trip to Toronto or the like

I looked into taking a bus from Toronto to Edmonton once when I was returning from a trip overseas.

It was around $450 and it would take 4 days. Flying was about $600 I believe.

I was interested in doing it for the adventure (I was young, and even dumber than I am now), but logically it just didn't make any sense.

So long distance buses can't compete with airlines, and there isn't enough population base to justify "short" distance trips.

The UK has 65 million people and it will fit 3 times into the province of Alberta. That's why public transit is inefficient in Canada.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Dion

What did you do to your sister?

Lol. Well since it was a bit my fault, as I had my insurance and registration hidden in a stupid place, not much. But that wouldn't have been a problem if she hadn't been speeding in a borrowed car, in a podunk town where the RCMP have nothing else to do, dammit.

I did mutter a lot, though. And she damn well heard it, as she was dating my roommate.

[Anduril]

I still regularly take the Greyhound to and from Edmonton once a month. I'm quite surprised that they'd completely shut down even a line like that which has generally been busy.

[GirlySports]

for the longest time my dad thought Greyhound was a bus, had no idea it was a dog.


"Why is the Sault Ste. Marie junior team named after a bus?"

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

The UK has 65 million people and it will fit 3 times into the province of Alberta. That's why public transit is inefficient in Canada.

or you need Chinese speed trains. 200km/hr

[bagofpucks]

Like others in this thread, I learned many a lesson on the greyhound. I moved away to play hockey when I was 13, so the easiest and cheapest way to get home on school breaks was the to cruise in style aboard the stinky bus. I think it was $40 one way from Lethbridge to Calgary?

And my most important lesson...if you don’t stop the puck, you don’t make the team, and then you take the bus home. Longest 14 hours of my life was the milk run trip from Regina to Calgary. It’s never a good sign when you’re happy to see Medicine Hat! But, I made every single team I tried out for after that lesson, so apparently it stuck in my mind!

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by jayocal

I'm a current coach operator at Greyhound here in Calgary. All of what's left of our schedules are almost always sold out in every direction. We are also still moving plenty of freight as well. There is definitely more to this decision than meets the eye.

This can be a viable business in Western Canada. I hope someone steps up.

I knew it, those buses are way too full to be considered a bad business model. It is the only option for tons - TONS - of people who can't afford air travel or private vehicles.

Greyhound's business model has to be hemorrhaging somewhere else, because those seats are sold and delivered.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Am not sure what other options there are, but an inter-town bus modeled on the "Naked Bus" model in New Zealand, using a subscribed passport system or pre-packaged route pass, wouldn't be the worst option.

Googled it, they are shutting down in a week ... and no one was naked.

[Deegee]

Originally Posted by Locke

The thing is, in this day and age of high fuel costs and Carbon taxes, all those people living in Rural areas and skimping on Property taxes and what not are going to have to start paying because their lifestyle is an inconvenience to rest of the general population.

My property taxes are ridiculously expensive.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Locke

Simple fix...

That being said, I'll bet we worked there around the same time, but you were upstairs and I was in the goddamned lanes.

No, I was running one of the satellite depots. Downtown wouldn’t hire me when I moved here in the 90s.

My father in law was a 30 year man. It destroyed him when they laid him off. The beginning of the end was the moron who tried to turn it into an airline. They didn’t put in modern tracking, it was just a backward operation.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Deegee

My property taxes are ridiculously expensive.

I think locke’s point was that you’d be paying more if taxes collected from people living in larger cities weren’t being used to subsidize the services you receive.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Locke

The UK is inconsequentially tiny within the realm of overall transport.

I was doing taxes for imported drivers from the UK and Eastern Europe in ~2005 or so when we didnt have enough drivers so we were importing them.

Unlike those places, Canada is BIG.

Turkey is a big country, and the bus service there is excellent. A dozen or more competing private companies. The buses are new, clean, comfortable. They have TVs, bus attendants, and snack service. They stop at efficient cafeteria-style restaurants en route. And these aren't short jaunts - I've taken 10, 12, 15 hour trips on them. It's a very pleasant way to travel, and far better than Greyhound.

Spoiler!

[Dion]

Gotta love this Greyhound bus horror story

In the mid-1980s in Florida (where else?), one rider got a foul, if deserved surprise, when he went to use the facilities on a Greyhound bus. The passenger, who by one account had been acting extremely belligerent - scowling at people, mumbling to himself, pacing the aisle - and just generally giving people the creeps in what was likely a drug-addled state, had locked himself in the toilet.

While this speed freak was perched on his throne, the driver (possibly intentionally) hit a massive pothole, which sent everyone on-board askew, but it was exceptionally bad for this guy: he came out of the bathroom covered in feces, urine, and that weird blue solution they put in porta potties. Suffice it to say, it's doubtful he had to utter the words "Seat's taken," for the remainder of the trip.

https://www.ranker.com/list/scary-gr...arrison-tenpas