Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Greyhound passengers protest the end of the 3:15 p.m. from Whistler with petition

New regional schedule starts on Feb. 28
news_seatosky1

A group of dedicated transit travellers has sent a petition to Greyhound Canada after finding out its mid-afternoon bus from Whistler to Pemberton has fallen victim to the cuts announced in the region last month.

The 3:15 p.m. service to Pemberton has a regular passenger list that includes seniors, students, workers and skiers travelling from Whistler, said co-organizer, MJ Berthoud.

Altogether 41 regular transit users from Pemberton and Mount Currie have signed the petition, which was sent to Greyhound last week.

Berthould said customers were not given enough notice.

"Everyone I talked to, when this thing about schedule changes came up, of course they had no information," Berthoud said.

"One of Greyhound's claims is that they only got 10 or 12 letters (objecting to the changes). When you don't know what it is that they're thinking about doing, how do you address it?" she said. "A few weeks ago they announced they were going to cancel the 3:15, which we all ride, some people do the 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift on the mountain. There's always a lot of people on it."

The earlier buses are virtually empty, Berthould said, while the next bus is at 4:45 p.m. and is often full.

The passengers have not yet received a response, she said.

Service cuts in the Sea to Sky corridor take effect on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013.

The BC Passenger Board received 40 public comments objecting to the application prior to their decision to allow the changes, including from the Resort Municipality of Whistler, the District of Squamish, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and the Village of Pemberton.

Greyhound Canada's initial application, service from Vancouver to Whistler Village will be cut in half, from a minimum of eight round trips per day or a minimum of 56 round trips per week (112 there and back) to four round trips per day and 28 round trips per week (56 there and back), respectively.

View Greyhound's new schedule in full at http://www.greyhound.ca/ and check out the Jack Bell ride share program at the link at https://online.ride-share.com/en/my/