Posted on 09/03/2009 11:51:01 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker
BURLINGTON, Ontario, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The Greyhound Canada bus line announced Thursday it is ceasing operations in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario because of government policies.
In a release from its Burlington, Ontario, headquarters, Senior Vice President Stuart Kendrick said operating losses were mounting and talks with various governments weren't showing any progress.
"We have repeatedly asked the federal and provincial governments to change the existing legislative and regulatory regimes that govern intercity bus operations," Kendrick said. "Our financial situation is dire and we are no longer in a position to absorb losses that are almost solely attributable to government policies."
The federal government has constitutional jurisdiction over the intercity bus industry with regulatory powers being delegated to the provinces, all of which exercise some form of oversight over scheduled intercity bus operations.
The release said bus operators are being forced to maintain unprofitable route services to small-town Canada through a web of cross-subsidies from their profitable passenger routes and bus parcel operations. The release said the company was also reviewing its operations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
How will this affect my ability to reach Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan?
They already stopped service to Molasses Junction, Florida!
This should help Global Warming.
Government running out of other people’s money?
Road traffic is not a natural monopoly. These regulations persist because of bureaucratic and political inertia. The cross-subsidies are essentially a tax — a tax which introduces inefficiencies.
Hey, why don’t they set up a gummint bus line to compete with Greyhound? That would lower prices and give better service, right?
Yes, and it will give Canadians a LOT more exercise. This in turn, will lower health costs! A win-win-win situation all around. Stupid gummint regulations save the day again.
How do you say “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” in Canadian? I know it starts with “Eh!” but that’s as far as I got...
Buy forcing Greyhound to maintain unprofitable routes in order for the government to grant them permission to keep the ones making money, they (the Canadian gov’t) are engaging in a classic case of wealth redistribution, socialism on display for all to see.
Sounds like the obama gov’t, not Canadian.
“There’s no such thing as a free beer eh?”
Unless you find one with a dead mouse in it - then the brewery will give you a bunch of cases of free beer...
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