Greyhound Shuts Down Permanently in Canada

• Greyhound Canada shut down operations on midnight on Thursday of this week, citing 95% drop in volume following outbreak of pandemic.

• The company had faced significant pressures even before the pandemic, and had pulled out of western Canada in 2018.

• Cross-border service into three major Canadian cities will resume under Greyhound's U.S. operations, which will continue operations.

After almost a century of operations, Greyhound Canada has shut down permanently in the country last night at midnight, a year after the coronavirus pandemic took a toll on its already precarious business. The company announced the closure just over a year after the coronavirus pandemic had affected bus travel and other forms of public transportation in Canada and the U.S., though Greyhound's U.S. operations will continue.

Greyhound's Canadian operations had been under pressure even before the pandemic arrived, with Greyhound ceasing operations in western Canada in 2018 as a result of declining ridership. The company also cites competition from publicly owned bus systems, VIA Rail as well as deregulation as factors in the closure of business. The company maintained bus routes in Ontario and Quebec, operating between larger cities like Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal in addition to others, but even these routes had seen declines over the past few years.

The pandemic itself brought a drop of approximately 95% to previous ridership volumes in Canada, making continued operations impossible.

"Our service is reliant on the farebox – we are not able to sustain operations with a significant reduction in ridership and the corresponding revenue loss," the company said in a statement announcing the closure.

However, Greyhound's American operations will continue cross-border service into Canada, once cross-border service actually resumes. The company said that it had already suspended service between the U.S. and Canada due to restrictions in cross-border travel, but had previously operated five routes to three Canadian cities: Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Greyhound's operations in the U.S. have also suffered significant reductions in service as a result of the pandemic, with the company slashing schedules and temporarily ceasing service between several cities, especially in the northeast.

"We deeply regret the impact this has on our staff and our customers, as well as the communities we have had the privilege of serving for many years," said Stuart Kendrick, senior vice president of Greyhound Canada.

"A full year without revenue has unfortunately made it impossible to continue operations," Kendrick added. "Thank you to our dedicated staff for their commitment and service, and to our customers for choosing Greyhound Canada during better times."

News of the permanent shutdown of Greyhound operations in the country prompted a note voicing upset from Canada's Federal Transport Minister, Omar Alghabra, who noted the impact of the shutdown on intercity travel in Canada.

"I'm disappointed by Greyhound's decision to stop its service in Canada. We know that many Canadians depend on this service," Alghabra wrote in a post on Twitter.

"We will work with our provincial partners to explore options to address this gap and provide Canadian with safe, reliable, and affordable transportation across the country," the statement reads in part.

What long-term effects do you foresee from the pandemic on usage of public ground transportation in the U.S? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.