Representatives from the Greyhound passenger bus service were in Nelson on Oct. 29 to personally explain why they believe route cuts are necessary in the area.

About 20 concerned citizens, mainly seniors, attended the presentation and eight people registered to speak to the delegation. The meeting was mediated by the Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) who will make the final decision on whether it allows Greyhound to cut eight buses from it's minimum weekly service on the route through Nelson, between Kelowna and the Alberta boarder.

Dannis Day, chair of the PTB, said it's the board's responsibility to ensure that Greyhound's service levels meet the public need, and they rely on public feedback on proposed changes to know when a change will negatively impact a community.

According to Day, the board received over 100 letters of concern after it placed advertisements in local newspapers notifying people of the proposed changes to the route.

To respond to initial public concern, Greyhound modified it's request. Then the PTB scheduled public meetings, like the one in Nelson, to see if people would be happier with the new proposal.

Originally Greyhound wanted to reduce service on the routes through Nelson by 50 per cent, taking away the 14 night buses that travel east and west on the route each week. Now it only wants to cut night buses on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and weekends.

The proposal would bring the number of Greyhound buses running through Nelson from 28 each week down to 20 (i.e. 10 running in each direction).

"We looked at which night buses had the most riders and will maintain those," said Steve Hutchins, Greyhound's director of passenger services. "It's a balancing act. We can't continue to lose millions of dollars on all these routes."

He went on to explain that in B.C. alone Greyhound lost over $5 million during its last fiscal year.

The company estimates it costs an average of $3.86 per mile to run one of its coach buses in B.C. The proposed change on the route would save the company 264,562 miles and over $1 million.

Some speakers at the meeting suggested Greyhound go to various levels of government and ask that they subsidize the cost of keeping the bus going through the area.

"We really need this bus since the province centralized our hospital system. It's an essential service," said Pegasis McGauley of Connected Communities for Health.

But Tobin Robbins, a lawyer working for Greyhound, said the company has been lobbying the governments for years trying to get them to subsidize rural bus routes. Currently Greyhound receives no government funding, but it is still provincially regulated, which Robbins said leaves the company at a competitive disadvantage.

"If Air Canada wanted to cancel all it's service into Castlegar tomorrow, it wouldn't have to ask for permission the way we do," Robbins said.

He said one of the reasons the province doesn't subsidize Greyhound is that it's already gives money to BC Transit and Interior Health to run buses in rural areas.

"They don't want us to take their riders," Robbins said. "They're quite adamant about not funding us money too."

Because the subsidized buses can typically offer fares 10 times cheaper than Greyhound's, the company focuses on longer inter-city connections for its business. These routes cost more to operate and ridership on them have been decreasing year after year.

Robbins suggested that with fewer buses on the route, each bus would carry more passengers. He did not believe overall ridership would decrease.

Donna MacDonald, a Nelson city councillor, said while she was sympathetic to Greyhound's current dilemma she thought the bus company needs to think of the long term.

"This is a time of crisis and opportunity. The crisis is climate change...we know we need to reduce out carbon footprints and there inlays the opportunity for Greyhound," said MacDonald, who stressed she was speaking only for herself, not to represent the views of the city.

She went on to say that as fuel prices rise, the demand for public transit will increase, and the company could expect to see an increase in ridership overtime if it maintains its service.

In response, Robbins stressed that Grayhound isn't planning to completely close any B.C. routes, but will instead reduce and modify the service on them.

"If demand comes back up, we can put buses back on these routes," he said.