Churchill MP Niki Ashton was the most impassioned of more than a dozen speakers who outlined their objections to Greyhound's application to discontinue service on the Thompson-Flin Flon route and the Snow Lake-Ponton van service at a Motor Transport Board public hearing July 9 in Thompson, following similar hearings in Snow Lake and Flin Flon on previous days.
"I was offended by the tone and some of the messages and the feeling that we in Northern Manitoba are second-class citizens," Ashton told the hearing in Thompson, referring to what she had heard from Greyhound spokesperson Peter Hamel at the previous day's hearing in Snow Lake. "I was, quite frankly, so frustrated by what I had heard. Today was a much more encouraging tone. That's not what I heard yesterday."
Hamel said it was clear how people in Flin Flon, Snow Lake and Thompson felt about the proposal to stop service.
"We got the message," he said. "The question is, where do we go from here? Greyhound is a very cyclical business. If we don't make these type of changes, I don't know if Greyhound can recover."
Hamel said the Northern Manitoba region had seen a 33 per cent decline in ridership since 2005, including a 16 per cent drop on the Flin Flon-Thompson runs this year alone.
"The area continues to decline in ridership," said Hamel. "These services need to be used.We can no longer afford to be here if the service isn't used."
In Snow Lake, he said, many of those objecting to the application to discontinue service weren't even aware of the bus schedule.
"I was shocked to see how few people in the room demanding service knew what the schedule was," said Hamel.
Mayor Tim Johnston was the first of the 20 attendees at the hearing to address the board and representatives of Greyhound, which also included Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1374 Manitoba executive board member Eric Carr, representing the company's employees.
"The City of Thompson is opposed to any changes in the service," said Johnston. "I don't want to see more people along the highways [hitchhiking]."
Gloria King, chief executive officer of the Burntwood Regional Health Authority, said although there was no regular ongoing medical exchange between Thompson and Flin Flon, her organization would like to see the bus link maintained.
"On occasion, we do transport patients to Flin Flon and The Pas," said BRHA chief financial officer Raj Thethy. "It's not regular. It's sporadic."
The BRHA, as well as the Nor-Man Regional Health Authority, use Greyhound fares as the benchmark for reimbursing patients who have to travel to other communities for medical services, regardless of whether they take the bus or not, in accordance with provincial policy.
The BRHA spent approximately $7 million on patient transportation in the 2008-2009 fiscal year, said Thethy, though most of that went towards medevac flights.
Reg Meade, mayor of Wabowden, suggested deregulation might be the answer to providing better service to Northern Manitoba.
"They should be opening up the more profitable routes to competition, too," said Meade. "As long as you have a monopoly on bus service in Manitoba, I recommend to the board that you run buses on all routes, not just pick and choose."
"The monopoly that you're talking about doesn't necessarily exist," countered Hamel, who also addressed Meade's assertion that discontinuing the route was all about profit. "Without any type of profit, you can't run a business."
Al Rivers of the Motor Transport Board pointed out that anyone who wishes is already free to compete with Greyhound.
"Any person can apply to this board for scheduled or charter service," said Rivers.
Carr said he opposes deregulation because it would reduce the number of union drivers.
"I want my union members to drive these buses and people to ride them so they make money," Carr said, but not on routes that would make the company unprofitable. "They're asking us as employees to take huge wage concessions. Employees aren't going to work for less so Snow Lake can have a bus."
