If you’ve ever desired to take a bus trip across Canada, this summer may be your last chance. Greyhound announced Monday that, due to a 41 percent decline in ridership since 2010, after October 31 it will terminating all bus service in western Canada except buses between Vancouver and Seattle. Service in Quebec and Ontario will remain unchanged, for now, except for the routes west of Sudbury.
Some local companies offer bus services in western Canada, mostly within individual provinces. Unless some of these companies step in to fill the gap left by Greyhound, it won’t be possible to go from, say, Vancouver to Calgary or Calgary to Winnipeg by bus.
Where passenger train service is offered by the government-subsidized Via Rail, prices are roughly twice Greyhound’s fares. Currently, a Greyhound bus trip from Vancouver to Toronto is about US$217, compared with US$564 by train. Vancouver to Edmonton is around US$89 by Greyhound and US$230 by train. Continue reading
