Regional Bus

[JagXKR]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton ... d-proposed

A far better way than private corporations being forced to lose money. I support Greyhound in this battle.

[southy]

This occurred in Ontario a long time ago and has been very successful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_N ... h_Services

[twobits]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton/213732/Rural-bus-fund-proposed

A far better way than private corporations being forced to lose money. I support Greyhound in this battle.

I agree but we have to be careful in what is an appropriate subsidy. The revenues of the routes must be transparent and not just a subsidy of operating costs plus a return on capital costs of the buses. If that happens, it's just a gov't guaranteed investment with no risk to the service provider and all risk to the taxpayer.
There has to be some threshold of ridership (revenue contribution from fares) where in the absence of, the route is just stupid to continue or we could be paying for buses to run between A and B completely empty with the provider still making a profit.

But what am I dreaming of? It's the way BC Transit currently operates.

[Jhunter199]

Seems like a great proposed option.

[twobits]

Seems like a great proposed option.

Might be a reasonable option.....but let's see the actual plan. Until we see the plan, it is not a "great" option.

[Dizzy1]

The Government should be the ones responsible for rural routes such as these - its the very foundation and basic premise of any sensible transportation infrastructure. The Provincial Government already funds transit in larger communities, rural areas should deserve the same.

Set up an RFP and let companies bid for the work.

[twobits]

The Government should be the ones responsible for rural routes such as these - its the very foundation and basic premise of any sensible transportation infrastructure.

But is it? Should we all be able to assume that we can live wherever we want and the Gov't will have to pay for or subsidize our transport to where we want to go or need to go? When do we accept the responsibilities of the cost of transport for the decision of the place we choose to live?
And how do we determine the level of subsidy that is acceptable in the RFP? Is it based on a 6 person load on a 500k ride that Greyhound lost it's shirt on?

[Hermes]

Perhaps we don't have the necessary population density and the land is too large to be practical, but I just came back from Japan and China and I really, really much prefer a train system to bus. Even USA has a better train system in some parts. Why did CP and CN give up, marginalizing *up* train travel to luxury and tourist routes? Was it political or financial? What doesn't our government invest in infrastructure?

Maybe we should just join the USA as our 49th parallel-centered population just isn't practical or a transportation system.

And for those (myself included) who bristle at Big brother, be advised, except for city buses, you can't board a bus in China without showing gov't issued ID. We have come to this...

[Dizzy1]

But is it? Should we all be able to assume that we can live wherever we want and the Gov't will have to pay for or subsidize our transport to where we want to go or need to go? When do we accept the responsibilities of the cost of transport for the decision of the place we choose to live?
And how do we determine the level of subsidy that is acceptable in the RFP? Is it based on a 6 person load on a 500k ride that Greyhound lost it's shirt on?

It doesn't have to be Greyhound or coach/conventional bus. You could also run a cutaway a few times a week along various communities along major routes. Several smaller communities already have such service linking them to bigger cities for medical appointments, etc.