Private bus companies whine about the expansion of public transportation in Ontario

Cue the orchestra :nopity:



from the Toronto Star:



Private bus firms blast GO expansion
Publicly subsidized services may force job and route cuts, Coach Canada, Greyhound say

Sep 12, 2009 04:30 AM

Tess Kalinowski
Transportation Reporter


Private bus companies are seeing red over the introduction of green GO buses into the Niagara and Peterborough areas last week, only days after Greyhound said it could no longer justify running some of its remote Ontario and Manitoba routes.

Coach Canada and Greyhound say GO's expansion will cost them business and potentially force them to cut jobs and routes.

Officials at both bus companies say they have approached GO about partnerships but, beyond sharing some maintenance facilities, the public agency isn't interested.

According to GO, the growing population of the Golden Horseshoe means there is more demand for Toronto-area destinations that the private coach operators don't serve.

Coach Canada, which runs 32 trips daily to St. Catharines, can't compete with the lower subsidized fares offered by GO, says president Jim Devlin.

"If I lose 10 per cent (of the Niagara Region business) we're carrying a lot of risk employing a lot of people with no return," he said. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/694633

These bus companies always cut service to small towns saying they can't afford to go there, on both sides of the border. Now, in Canada, the government is operating services to where they don't go and they're whining about the competition to places they DO go.

What kills me is they're saying they can't compete with a GO bus fare between Toronto and St. Catharines. That's not all that "remote"! Lord knows, GO is the only sane way to travel between Toronto and Hamilton. If they're offering buses to St. Catharines too, well good for them.