Greyhound Canada plans to reduce bus service to and from Campbell River after the company lost several million dollars last year.
Greyhound recently filed an application with the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board to reduce service on 15 routes across the province.
Service between Nanaimo and Campbell River is one of those routes expected to take a hit.
“Greyhound Canada Transportation ULC proposed to eliminate schedules 5110 and 5118 northbound and schedules 5107 and 5117 southbound between Nanaimo and Campbell River,” said Greyhound in a report explaining its decision.
In other words, the company wants to go from a minimum of two trips per day in each direction to one trip a day leaving from Campbell River and one leaving from Nanaimo. The 5110 out of Campbell River has an average passenger load of 20 and generates $6.70 of revenue for Greyhound per passenger mile. The 5118 leaving from Campbell River sees an average of 10.15 riders and generates $3.38 of revenue per passenger mile.
Greyhound said it was left with no choice but to eliminate service on certain routes after losing $1.4 million on scheduled passenger operations in B.C. last year.
“These losses are unsustainable,” wrote the company in its report. “GCTU attributes its fiscal 2011/12 B.C. passenger services operating loss to a number of factors including higher costs for fuel and maintenance, reduced ridership, (and) an inflexible provincial regulatory regime that does not allow the company to respond quickly to market and economic changes.”
Greyhound hopes to eliminate about 2.2 million operating miles across the province and save approximately $6.75 million in operating costs annually.
If Greyhound is not able to achieve those operating savings, the bus company has advised the province it is prepared to stop scheduled bus service in B.C.
As of now, Greyhound has plans to abandon one route – seasonal ski service between Victoria and Mount Washington.
Last year Greyhound ran one bus per day each way. The northbound bus out of Victoria averaged 2.79 riders and brought in just $0.34 per passenger mile. The bus heading from Mount Washington to Victoria averaged 4.55 passengers and generated $0.56 in revenue per passenger mile.