Bus routes could be cut
Published Friday November 13th, 2009
Hearing | Company wants to eliminate less profitable routes and focus on those that can make money
Acadian Coach Lines is asking for regulatory approval to eliminate its Fredericton-Miramichi route as the motor carrier undertakes a plan to increase focus on travel between Halifax, Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton.
According to documents filed with the Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) and obtained by The Daily Gleaner, the once-a-day service to Miramichi is targeted for elimination.
Also on the chopping block, according to the documents, are Acadian's service between Saint John and Bangor, Maine, and service on the Kentville-Digby corridor in Nova Scotia.
The company plans to reduce the number of trips between Fredericton and Riviere-du-Loup, Que., from three buses a day to two.
Acadian is asking the EUB to approve the change in time for the new year.
The bus company said in its submission to the EUB that the revenue generated on major routes is no longer sufficient to subsidize those operating at a loss.
It wants to build its lucrative routes and give customers more express routes that will reduce travel time between major cities.
While it plans to eliminate some trips, the company is also looking to increase service between the core population centres of Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton and Halifax.
Acadian's plan calls for the number of trips between Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton to increase to four a day each way.
From Fredericton, that means an extra trip to and from Moncton and two extra trips to and from Saint John.
Of those four trips, three will be express service between the cities, with the first one leaving each city between 7-7:30 a.m. daily. Another express bus would depart each city between 5-7 p.m. daily.
Trips that would also service communities in between would run between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The number of trips between Moncton and Halifax will also be increased from three to five per day.
Reached Thursday, Sylvain Langis, president and CEO of Groupe Orleans Express, the Montreal-based company that owns Acadian, declined to go into detail about the company's plans.
"All I can say right now is that we submitted a plan to the EUB," Langis said, speaking in French, adding that he objected to the fact that the document had been provided to the media.
"Right now, I have no comment. What we submitted was an important document. And as long as we have not made our presentation to the Energy and Utilities Board, I think it is useless for us to comment on it.''
Asked about plans to discontinue some services he said: "No comments until we meet the board, period."
A presentation document paints a dire picture.
"The industry is in crisis," said a statement on the opening page of the presentation by Langis and Manon Piche, the company's vice-president of marketing and strategic development.
"The bus transportation industry needs to follow population movements. There has been a massive migration of population from rural areas to urban areas in the Maritimes, much like elsewhere in Canada."
The company said the dispersed population in New Brunswick makes it more expensive to service.
"The bottom line is that we are still not making a profit."
Acadian said the perception that it runs a monopoly is false, given that there are many forms of competition out there ranging from car rentals, car pools and shuttle services to planes and trains.
The company noted the Government of Quebec provides Orleans Express with a full refund on the 16.2-cent per litre provincial fuel tax.
Andrew Holland, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, said the province hasn't yet been advised of the plans but was aware
the company was working on something.
"They indicated to us a few weeks ago that they would be planning some changes in the province," he said.
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...car pools? Are they serious? I don't think car pools are taking any business away from them, if everyone could carpool with friends, they wouldn't take the bus. And as for trains, how the heck are people supposed to get to Miramichi to get on the train if they cancel the bus? Fly?
This just seems like a poor decision to me...
DC
And just how many planes and trains run from Fredericton to Miramichi?
Of course, it would need money to operate it, and no one would want to pay more taxes, so it would never get off the ground.
Besides, lack of money (even during a recession) is not the problem. There is always money available to go to war or bail out banks and car manufacturers. It's not a question of available funds. Only a matter of political will.
Unlike NB, the NSURB regulates the charter and scheduled bus services when it comes to income/expense investigations and can inspect the company's books to show where efficency needs to be improved and also ensure a fair profit is made, but not at the expense of the travelling public where alternative travel methods are lacking. NS will actually give charter operators more bus licenses if they maintain the less profitable scheduled routes by funneling money into these routes.