Better shoot that dog

Greyhound Inc. is not only changing colours, its changing. After going through several ownership changes in the last twenty years the stability of the venerable company appears threatened. Presently it is owned by a limey company with the unlikely name of FirstPlace PLC. PLC must stand for pretty lousy company.

Historically, Greyhound fought Via rail subsidies to bring passenger transport to those communities along Hwy's 11 and 17. It also backed the 1987 deregulation of the National Transportation Act.

Before that, it was a law in Canada that no company may serve a route for less than the operational cost per passenger, or seat, or per parcel pound. Since Via Rail of that time was government owned it could receive government subisidies on fare schedules under cost. No more Dominion or Canadian on the Superior routes and only spasmodic rail passenger service outside that corridor.

Now a past supporter of deregulation, becomes a victim of that deregulation. More efficient small firms have emerged like Mega Bus which cherry picks the good routes so much that they have rates between Toronto and Montreal lower than the cost per seat. Before Greyhound got bought by Laidlaw, they were doing very good in the markets they served in Canada.

Greyhound kept expanding to the point of inefficiency. At if you cannot see it, above the two buses in the picture is a wall mural ad for MegaBus flogging a $1 standby fare to Montreal. Now instead of admitting that this is where the main problem is, Greyhound prefers to have vulnerable people in Northern Ontario and Manitoba held hostage.

The reason for this political kidnapping is not the high costs of operations in Northern Ontario. It is the heat from the competition in the major intercity routes.

The solution is simple actually. Greyhound should be given $15M for the next three years. Government must reintroduce a new National Transportation Act where the fares charged to passengers must compensate the operational cost of that seat. Second, if any new bus carrier enters service between major cities it must also service all points in between at least once a day each way.

For passengers it might seem more expensive, but in the longer term it will bring stability to the transportation market. Or if Greyhound continues to be troublesome, shoot that damn dog.