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HAY RIVER
Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen is calling on the GNWT to help explore options to replace Greyhound Canada's passenger bus service to the NWT.

Amanda Shaw of Yellowknife was one of five passengers who arrived in Hay River by Greyhound bus on Aug. 24. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"I don't think it can be reversed," she said of the scheduled Oct. 24 end to the service.

However, the MLA said there could be other ideas the government could pursue.

"We need to make it viable for somebody to offer a passenger service," she said.

The route to Hay River from Peace River, Alta., is the only Greyhound service to the NWT. There will be no change to the company's parcel and freight service to Hay River.

Groenewegen said perhaps the government could provide support if Frontier Coachlines of Hay River wants to expand its passenger service south, or maybe help some other business fill the transportation gap.

She would also like to see people with Greyhound's Discovery Pass, which allows travel anywhere in Canada for 30 days, to still be able to come to the NWT.

"Could we have a joint agreement or partnership with Greyhound that could allow another carrier to participate in that in some way?" she said.

Groenewegen said her suggestion for government involvement is not a question of the GNWT regulating the busing industry.

"Maybe it's a matter of people that are customers for freight services using some kind of a new combination of passenger and freight to make that passenger service viable," she said. "I don't know whether it needs to come from regulation or whether it just needs to come from pressure in the marketplace, but I do believe the government has a role to at least have a dialogue with the people that are in the business now."

Groenewegen believes Greyhound falls a bit into the public service category.

She asked Transportation Minister Michael McLeod about the Greyhound service in the legislative assembly on Aug. 17.

McLeod said the GNWT thinks there's an excellent opportunity for qualified businesses in the NWT to expand their services.

"It may mean a different type of vehicle," the minister said. "It may mean a different schedule. It may mean convincing Greyhound to release some of their commitments to provide freight. All those discussions have to take place, and we certainly have to get a better understanding as to what is going to be coming in terms of what the Greyhound plans are. We don't have that all in our hands right now."

The problem facing the Greyhound service to Hay River – too few passengers – was illustrated on Aug. 24 when its 54-seat bus pulled into Hay River with just five passengers aboard.

One of those passengers was Amanda Shaw of Yellowknife, who was travelling on the bus for the first time after visiting her boyfriend in Grande Prairie, Alta.

Shaw will be sorry to see the Greyhound passenger service end.

"It kind of sucks a lot," she said. "I'm going to have to find a way to the closest spot to get on a bus. So I'm going to have to go out of my way to find another way to get on a different mode of transportation."

Another passenger on the Aug. 24 bus was Yellowknife's Victoria Lynn Enciso.

She was travelling on the bus for the third time because she wanted to show the country to her mother, who was visiting from the United States.

"You can really see the view of Canada," Enciso said. "If you really love nature so much, you can really appreciate the bus."

In general, she said the end of the Greyhound service will not affect her all that much because there are inexpensive flights from Yellowknife to Edmonton.

Still, Enciso said she would like to see the territorial government help maintain a bus service to the NWT for those who need it. "They can do everything if they really wanted to and help those people."

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