Saskatchewan Transportation Shutting Down!!

[roeco]

Effective May 31 ALL STC Routes will Cease Operations Entirely!!! This is going to be a massive blow to the Province of Saskatchewan, However Im wondering If Greyhound could pick up some routes?? Maybe Regina to Saskatoon which I believe was one of only 2 routes that were profitable, I think the other was Saskatoon-Prince Albert.  It going to affect Greyhound in Both Regina and Saskatoon as Well as Swift Current and Yorkton which are depots operated by STC.  Would Province of Saskatchewan give Greyhound or ? a subsidy for some service? Maybe!!   It will also affect Alsask bus lines between Calgary and Saskatoon. STC is Greyhounds biggest interline Partner so it will hurt Greyhound. Def opportunity for someone for Parcel movement.

[SirFrimFram]

This irks me greatly. I'm not even sure that's enough time for Greyhound to establish itself in the province, much less get subsidies to operate the less profitable lines.

Considering they're just canning the operation, and I realize this is speculation, I don't think the province is that interested in subsidizing bus service in the province of Saskatchewan.

[GMD1]

Firstly my heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the STC employees affected by this.  I rode STC many years ago when I lived in Saskatchewan, it was a good service.  One wonders if Greyhound will be around in ten years, when you consider the size of the former and current bus depots in Edmonton, it's easy to see the service isn't what is was.  Public ground transportation in western Canada is sadly a fraction of what it was 35 years ago

[roeco]

Well Im thinking in Greyhound's best interest they may want to take over the Regina to Saskatoon service as it was profitable under STC and if Greyhound can get some if not all the former STC coaches for a steal it would make good business sense to do that, also the connections are crucial for Greyhound in both cities,STC just refurbished all their coaches as good or better than Greyhound's. Also it will put depot operations in limbo in Saskatoon,Regina,Swift Current,Yorkton,North Battleford,Moose Jaw where STC and Greyhound share depots and STC acts as Greyhounds agent in each of those cities. STC also services Greyhounds coaches in both Saskatoon and Regina. Greyhound will prevail in 10 years, sure their smaller now but they were much too big and bleeding red ink badly before First took it over, its right sized much better now but could still use some improvements,as for the Edmonton depot, they dont need a big depot their, all their schedules are staggered so they dont leave at same time, they could use a much bigger waiting area but it works. All GCX and administrative is now at Greyhounds maintenance centre across the Yellowhead and it seems to work fine their.

[SirFrimFram]

2 hours ago, roeco said:

It will also affect Alsask bus lines between Calgary and Saskatoon.

1

Do you think that Greyhound would simply run between Saskatoon and Calgary? Why doesn't it now?

[roeco]

57 minutes ago, SirFrimFram said:

This irks me greatly. I'm not even sure that's enough time for Greyhound to establish itself in the province, much less get subsidies to operate the less profitable lines.

Considering they're just canning the operation, and I realize this is speculation, I don't think the province is that interested in subsidizing bus service in the province of Saskatchewan.

Only Regina to Saskatoon I would think they'd be interested in if Any. Getting subsidies I dont think u would see that who knows maybe some other smaller independent companies could take on some of the other services.

 

[SirFrimFram]

Just now, roeco said:

Only Regina to Saskatoon I would think they'd be interested in if Any. Getting subsidies I dont think u would see that who knows maybe some other smaller independent companies could take on some of the other services.

 

 

I believe Saskatoon to Prince Albert was also profitable, so that one might be saved as well.

[roeco]

Just now, SirFrimFram said:

Do you think that Greyhound would simply run between Saskatoon and Calgary? Why doesn't it now?

Alsask Bus Lines has ran Calgary to Alsask connecting with STC to Saskatoon since Oct.24,2011 when the province of Alberta De regulated. However their may be an opportunity for them to run all the way to Saskatoon, either that or they will have to shut down as STC is their bread and butter on that corridor

 

1 minute ago, SirFrimFram said:

I believe Saskatoon to Prince Albert was also profitable, so that one might be saved as well.

possibly, it could probably be run with 1 trip a day as long as it connected with Saskatoon to Regina. But who knows only time will tell if or what Greyhound may be intersted in.

[SirFrimFram]

2 minutes ago, roeco said:

Alsask Bus Lines has ran Calgary to Alsask connecting with STC to Saskatoon since Oct.24,2011 when the province of Alberta De regulated. However their may be an opportunity for them to run all the way to Saskatoon, either that or they will have to shut down as STC is their bread and butter on that corridor

5

Right. Before that though, didn't STC and Greyhound share the Saskatoon-Calgary run in some way?

 

Here's hoping the Saskatchewan government realizes they need to have some form of intercity transit, whether its STC, or subsidizing rural routes. Even if they delay it to give more time to figuring out what they want to do, or give more time for Greyhound to take over operations, it would be better for everyone.

[GMD1]

With Prince Albert being about 40000 people, I can't see it with out some sort of bus service to Saskatoon 

[northwesterner]

3 hours ago, roeco said:

This is going to be a massive blow to the Province of Saskatchewan

If the routes were so poorly used that only two were in the black how is this going to be a "massive blow?"

EDIT - The per passenger subsidy was $94! I'm surprised the province kept financing them for this long.

[roeco]

Well Greyhound could stand to loose alot with this News...alot of Freight is shipped to/from both Regina and Saskatoon passenger service on several STC routes should have been cut or reduced years ago, STC problem was they had too much service...Greyhound will now have to establish Full Courier and Agency serivces in each city they share with STC. In Regina and Saskatoon alone that could be a major undertaking. As I think the current STC Regina depot is much too big for Greyhound Alone as is Saskatoon! 

[SirFrimFram]

3 minutes ago, roeco said:

Well Greyhound could stand to loose alot with this News...alot of Freight is shipped to/from both Regina and Saskatoon passenger service on several STC routes should have been cut or reduced years ago, STC problem was they had too much service...Greyhound will now have to establish Full Courier and Agency serivces in each city they share with STC. In Regina and Saskatoon alone that could be a major undertaking. As I think the current STC Regina depot is much too big for Greyhound Alone as is Saskatoon! 

 

That's all assuming Greyhound bothers to take over service....

[M. Parsons]

What would Greyhound even have to do create new routes in Saskatchewan? Obviously there must be some sort of regulation over the Saskatchewan routes as STC essentially had a monopoly.
By shutting down STC, does it essentially deregulate the market?

[SirFrimFram]

1 minute ago, M. Parsons said:

What would Greyhound even have to do create new routes in Saskatchewan? Obviously there must be some sort of regulation over the Saskatchewan routes as STC essentially had a monopoly.

By shutting down STC, does it essentially deregulate the market?

 

https://www.stcbus.com/Library/Docs/FINAL - Website FAQs.pdf  It's hard to say. STC doesn't know what Greyhound will do at any rate.

[DavidW]

I can see Greyhound possibly being interested in the two reportedly profitable routes (Regina - Saskatoon and Saskatoon - Prince Albert) and in some portion of the parcel business, but I doubt much else. The parcels they would do by van (as they do in Manitoba). Regina - Saskatoon is probably useful to Greyhound's network. S'toon - P.A. not so much. STC's other "corridor" might be Regina - Moose Jaw. As for the rest... maybe some local operators might give some routes a try but most of them would I think struggle to do much better than STC (but perhaps with lower driver wages and cheeper vehicles... it might work).

Greyhound would need to find depots in places where they now operate through STC bus stations, and sign-up or replace STC parcel agents elsewhere. It's a lot to do in a short time but not impossible. 

[roeco]

I can see Greyhound being interested in controlling the Gcx in Saskatchewan as it plays in important part in their revenues as STC is Greyhounds largest interline partner ...contracting out some of the freight runs would make the most sense especially on lower revenue but still viable services and  themselves on the higher revenue current STC services that carry a good amount of freight but little in way of passengers. And Def at min 2 trips a day between  Regina and Saskatoon would be a very important corridor for Greyhound to operate as maybe one trip a day to Prince Albert, their could be other services that may be viable to Greyhound but just not right for the current STC services. They can for sure tailor the runs to connect in both Saskatoon and Regina with existing Hwy 16 and 1 schedules. In some places you may see Greyhound just take over the existing current STC depots where they operate with STC such as Moose Jaw,Swift Current,Yorkton. In terms of Regina Greyhound maybe able to operate in the interm from their but would have to def find a new home as its much too big for what Greyhound would ever need in Regina,in long term same with possibly Saskatoon, It will all depend on what kind of a presence Greyhound wants to take in Saskatchewan.  Some of STC's assets may be of interest to Greyhound esepcially since STC has refurbished coaches and the same type of trailer/bus combination as Greyhound does.  I would think drivers would be quite easy to obtain in saskatoon or Regina where they already have a presence.

[TheAverageJoe]

2 hours ago, roeco said:

I can see Greyhound being interested in controlling the Gcx in Saskatchewan as it plays in important part in their revenues as STC is Greyhounds largest interline partner ...contracting out some of the freight runs would make the most sense especially on lower revenue but still viable services and  themselves on the higher revenue current STC services that carry a good amount of freight but little in way of passengers. And Def at min 2 trips a day between  Regina and Saskatoon would be a very important corridor for Greyhound to operate as maybe one trip a day to Prince Albert, their could be other services that may be viable to Greyhound but just not right for the current STC services. They can for sure tailor the runs to connect in both Saskatoon and Regina with existing Hwy 16 and 1 schedules. In some places you may see Greyhound just take over the existing current STC depots where they operate with STC such as Moose Jaw,Swift Current,Yorkton. In terms of Regina Greyhound maybe able to operate in the interm from their but would have to def find a new home as its much too big for what Greyhound would ever need in Regina,in long term same with possibly Saskatoon, It will all depend on what kind of a presence Greyhound wants to take in Saskatchewan.  Some of STC's assets may be of interest to Greyhound esepcially since STC has refurbished coaches and the same type of trailer/bus combination as Greyhound does.  I would think drivers would be quite easy to obtain in saskatoon or Regina where they already have a presence.

For sure Greyhound would want those trailers if they can be bought at the right price.

[roeco]

The loss of STC revenue will hurt Greyhounds revenues...and I checked out the Stc freight revenues in their annual report and their parcel services showed 1.4 million in net profit last year...!

[SirFrimFram]

https://mobile.twitter.com/WayneMantykaCTV/status/845021642052952064

Keep an eye on CTV. A bus company supposedly has expressed interest in taking over some stc routes.

EDIT: This is coming from a CTV reporters twitter not ctv directly.

[IRT_BMT_IND]

There's a pretty good chance that "large bus company" is Greyhound. The only other company I can think of that qualifies as large (and makes sense) is Pacific Western. Though I wonder what the chances are of total deregulation? I'd say pretty high given the current government in Saskatchewan.

[northwesterner]

5 hours ago, roeco said:

 I checked out the Stc freight revenues in their annual report and their parcel services showed 1.4 million in net profit last year...!

Doesn't matter. 

 

That 1.4 million in net profit showed would be based on some phony transfer pricing for space on the bus. Of course, whatever that rate is cannot be replicated by another operator. The parcel services were not absorbing the full cost of the business (as the buses were getting a $94CDN/pax subsidy, the freight was essentially getting a free ride).

[TheAverageJoe]

11 hours ago, IRT_BMT_IND said:

There's a pretty good chance that "large bus company" is Greyhound. The only other company I can think of that qualifies as large (and makes sense) is Pacific Western. Though I wonder what the chances are of total deregulation? I'd say pretty high given the current government in Saskatchewan.

Yup would most likely be Greyhound as it fits into their network like a glove. Pacific Western would be a little harder as they do not run any line haul that connects to any of STC routes.

[SirFrimFram]

http://globalnews.ca/news/3331446/stc-closure-a-complete-outrage-bus-rider-with-rare-brain-cancer/

 

Not greyhound.

[roeco]

16 hours ago, SirFrimFram said:

https://mobile.twitter.com/WayneMantykaCTV/status/845021642052952064

Keep an eye on CTV. A bus company supposedly has expressed interest in taking over some stc routes.

EDIT: This is coming from a CTV reporters twitter not ctv directly.

Their really only is Two Large Companies in  Canada Greyhound or Pacific Western...!!