In 2017, Joe Hargrave, the provincial minister in charge of the STC, responded to just over 100 letters of complaint about the decision to shut down the STC. Most of the correspondence from that year, obtained through an access to information request, came from affected rural residents, and some of it from voters who said they had supported the ruling Saskatchewan Party in the last election.

Hargrave’s responses are generally similar, and sometimes carbon-copies of each other. Each begins with noting the government’s $1.3 billion deficit, an assessment that the STCs growing subsidy was “unsustainable,” a general statement of priorities (“we believe these dollars are better spent in areas such as education, healthcare and infrastructure”), an expression of regret (“the decision to wind up STC was a difficult one”) and a vote of confidence in the private sector stepping up to ensure that “the needs of the people across the province will be met.”

But none of the letters indicate whether or not the government had a backup plan to ensure private carriers would cover STC’s routes.

Hargrave’s letters referred to the loss of the STC as an “opportunity for growth and expansion throughout the province.” He assured affected residents that there were 17 applicants to Highway Traffic Safety Board for licenses to operate transportation companies.

One of those companies was a numbered corporation based out of Regina, 101266444 Saskatchewan Ltd. Later known as Forward Coach Lines, the company and its fellow applicants would first become the focus of political opposition that would later erupt into a protest movement.

At the traffic board’s public hearing in Regina in June, 2017, eight people showed up to dispute the application and propose a public inquiry into the STC’s closure. The traffic board, however, was only interested in whether or not the applicant could sell tickets ahead of time, pick up passengers at a pre-determined location, and have vehicle safety inspections.

Any comparison to the STC’s service levels did not impact its decision, it wrote in its decision.

Owner Hasan Topal, who had operated a flooring installation company for ten years, was later approved to operate a 15-passenger van in July, with some conditions, including the completion of driver safety training and criminal record checks.The rush of businesses asking for operating certificates from the traffic board didn’t last long, and neither did 101266444 Saskatchewan Ltd.’s transportation service. By the end of 2017, without any public notice, it had ceased operating.

Hargrave’s early conviction that the private sector would eagerly step up to fill the gaps in passenger service was not borne out by the evidence.

Most new companies hoping to cash in on STC’s retreat were disappointed. By November, 2018, the only two businesses that made a brief attempt to provide routes to the far-flung communities north of Prince Albert – KCTI Travel and L.A. Family Shuttle – had given up on Highway 2.

The long haul

The newly privatized market was not, in fact, a significant opportunity for growth, and the loss of Greyhound didn’t help.

The largest private operator running inter-city routes in Saskatchewan said that he had to work hard to attract new passengers who were accustomed to Greyhound’s service and larger buses.

“We can’t say we have a bigger market. We will have to work hard to prove our buses are in good condition and are secure,” said Firat Uray, owner of Rider Express.

One of the reasons Rider Express is still in business at all is that Uray didn’t expect a high profit or volume of passengers to begin with.

“Maybe in 10 or 15 years we will start making money.”

 

– Firat Uray

“There was a big expectation from those companies – once they [saw this] wasn’t what they were expecting, they [closed]. We were not expecting so much money in the short term. Maybe in 10 or 15 years we will start making money,” he said.

By the end of 2018, the company had expanded into bigger markets in Alberta and British Columbia, including a Vancouver to Calgary route that now runs three times a week.

Uray is tentative, but he has modest plans to expand the company. Beyond the ever-present goal of upgrading routes from 15 passenger vans to full-sized 55-passenger buses, he wants to add security guards and refreshment service.In Saskatchewan, Rider Express offers rides that connect Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, North Battleford and Lloydminster, where passengers can connect to ride as far as Vancouver.

That focus on profitable routes has not translated into growth or expansion in Saskatchewan, although some competition has emerged.

In March, 2019, Affordable Rides launched a route between Saskatoon and Regina with lower rates and wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

While Minister Hargrave did not agree to be interviewed for this piece, the government did respond to questions in a written statement. “We are encouraged to see the private sector has responded by offering transportation services, both in Saskatchewan and between provinces, where there is demand. Businesses will need to find the operating model that will work for them and private companies will make decisions based on ridership and shipping demand,” wrote James Parker, senior communications advisor to executive council of the provincial government.

The pick-up and drop-off point for Rider Express in Prince Albert, SK. [Photo © Lisa Johnson]

Beyond the limited geographical reach, one of the biggest differences between these upstarts and the STC is their terminals.

The STC had a downtown depot in Saskatoon with a large seating area, lockers and a donut shop. It was built in 1974 to accommodate 40-foot buses and an increase in business volume – both relics in the intercity business now.

The company had also invested $22 million in a brand-new terminal in Regina in 2008 – an investment many critics interpreted as wasted. It was later sold to the city for $16.25 million.

By contrast, the Rider Express terminal in Saskatoon is a small waiting room in a strip mall in the north industrial end of the city, where two employees behind a service desk make sure pickup for underage passengers is arranged and verified.

The company also has a terminal in Regina. In Prince Albert, however, pick-up and drop off happens in a discount store parking lot, just off the main drag. It’s a hub of sorts, but it isn’t indoors, and it isn’t so much as marked with a sign. In Lloydminster, it’s a Tim Horton’s; in North Battleford, a Petro-Canada gas station. Critics peg Rider Express pick-up points like these as woefully insecure.

“Everybody would know where you would catch the shuttle in P.A. – in the Giant Tiger parking lot. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to lurk around if your partner was leaving you, or you came home and she was gone. It’s just not safe,” said Dusel, executive director of PATHs.

In Ottawa, at a standing house committee on transport, infrastructure and communities in Nov. 2018, Saskatoon-West MP Sheri Benson, who has been vocal in the House of Commons on the loss of the STC, pressed federal transport minister Marc Garneau for safety standards to accompany any federal cash – at the time being discussed behind closed doors in a working committee.

“I have heard from people in my province about some of the bus services up and operating in Western Canada dropping people off on the side of a highway. That is not safe and I know that you would agree with that,” Benson told the committee.

Uray said he’s aware of the shortcomings of pick-up points. In Calgary, Rider Express changed its pickup location from a Tim Horton’s to a gas station, for example, and is still looking for a better location.

“In the beginning we thought they were good locations but after some experiences it wasn’t serving our needs,” he said.

Even the STC couldn’t justify purchasing a dedicated depot at every stop.

The STC leased large passenger depots in Prince Albert and Moose Jaw, but it contracted small businesses in towns and villages, like this one in Wakaw, SK, where passengers could buy tickets and wait for buses in the lobby of a hotel and off-sale beer store. [Photo © Lisa Johnson]

When two other companies operated regular routes between La Ronge and Prince Albert, Rider Express had linked to those routes. But for now, La Ronge and the communities connected to it on Highway 2, like Montreal Lake, are not on the Rider Express radar.

That lack of demand has also led to complaints that private bus services aren’t reliable. Passengers reported early on that shuttles sometimes did not show up if passengers had not booked ahead of time. For a brief period in Nov. 2017, Rider Express cancelled, and then resurrected its route to Prince Albert after resolving a business licencing dispute with the City of Prince Albert.

“There isn’t enough demand for us to put service there. But it all depends on the government – if they can help us, we can go where we are needed. For now, these are the routes that are sustainable,” Uray said.

We are encourage that the private sector has responded by offering transportation services, both in Saskatchewan and between provinces, where there is demand. Businesses will need to find the operating model that will work for them and private companies will make decisions based on ridership and shipping demand.”

 

– James Parker

While he would be open to applying and being able to expand its routes, Uray isn’t counting on government subsidies anytime soon.

“I don’t know what is their plan. But I don’t believe that will happen, because if there was a grant they would have paid and given it to Greyhound to keep the Greyhound,” he said.

Uray is aware that there is a demand in small towns and remote areas, but notes that it is difficult to increase service when, for example, in Prince Albert, demand has not grown in the two years the company has been operating.

In those cases, governments would have to step in, he said.

“Private companies jumping into the service, they are hoping there will be passengers and there will be money,” Uray said. Instead, they went out of business. “It happened after STC [left].”

And, it won’t be easy for Uray to compete with the public company’s customer approval rating. In both passenger and parcel service, the STC reported a 95 per cent satisfaction rate.

Give a ride, take a ride

Partly because there are so many drivers in Saskatchewan, travellers like Vicky Dagneault are able to organize rides for cash using social media groups – a kind of high-tech hitchhiking.

Ridesharing is what you have to do when you need a ride – and you’ve got $20 or $30 for gas, she explained.

Dagneault lives in Prince Albert, but lived in La Ronge for about 20 years – the majority of her life. She worked for six years as a social worker, earning a degree in social work in Saskatoon.

Now she prepares taxes, and is working towards a career as a security guard. Her family lives in La Ronge, so she goes as often as she can. She’s realistic about the challenge of travelling between La Ronge, Prince Albert, and Saskatoon when she needs to – without a car.

“There’s always a way around it,” she said.

Part of the reason regional transit operators like KCTI Travel gave up on Highway 2 is that “a lot of people thought that [prices were] too high,” Dagneault said.

L.A. Family Shuttle ran passenger vans from La Ronge to Prince Albert briefly in 2018, charging $60 for an adult fare.

But many people in the La Ronge area just started catching rides on a social media group with roughly 1,700 members called La Ronge Travellers.

People who aren’t on Facebook don’t know about it. Not surprisingly, elderly people don’t typically post to the group.

Dagneault helps friends find rides and offer rides in their cars, “especially if they’re not working or something and need the cash,” she said.

“I’ve had to post for friends, posting ‘text this number if you need a ride,’ and it’s worked out a couple of times.”

A typical post in the group will ask for, or offer, a ride from LA to PA (shorthand for La Ronge and Prince Albert), or vice versa, and sometimes name a price. The details are sorted out in inboxes or via cellphone, but these posts pop up between four and seven times every day, depending on the day of the week.

Dagneault considers herself lucky enough to have a friend in the north who travels often and can sometimes offer rides.

But you can’t count on those rides being offered according to your schedule.

“You have no choice but to wait for the next day, or the day after that. It’s hit and miss. You have to go on their schedule, so you have to plan well ahead. Sometimes people post days ahead, just so they can prepare and get their people. But sometimes that doesn’t work out – the time frame just doesn’t work out,” Dagneault said.

And, many people are reluctant to pick up someone travelling with kids, or extra baggage if they are moving to a different home.

“People don’t want to listen to kids crying all the way to PA, or having a tantrum or whatever. It’s easier to catch a ride because it’s just me,” she said. For those people, a bus might be essential – but it would have to be priced right.

Dagneault is as cautious as she can be with ride-sharing. “La Ronge is not too big – so I phone the people. I’m pretty outgoing though, and I talk to everybody, so I know a lot of people so it’s easier for me to find rides,” she said.

Like Bird, many of the rides Dagneault catches going north are from people in the community that she already knows. When she hails rides from Saskatoon to Prince Albert, she checks to see if they have mutual friends, and asks around. And, she lets people know before she leaves who she is catching a ride with and when she expects to arrive.

“Because you never know,” she said.

And she’s had some dicey experiences. 

“There are some people that actually use fake names and stuff. When I was in Saskatoon, there was this one guy, he probably assumed I was alone. I needed a ride to a [job] interview once in Saskatoon. He said he’d be right there, and then he didn’t show up, so I had to call somebody else,” she said. She reported him to the ride-share group.

“I think it’s because he assumed I was by myself, but I was with my boyfriend. And as soon as I said there are two of us, [that] ‘my boyfriend and I will be waiting’ – I think that’s what threw him off and he didn’t want to come,” she said.

Her approach as an Indigenous woman, even when she’s just catching a cab in the city, is to start talking into her cellphone immediately, demonstrating that she’s “forceful.”

“A lot of people say they now travel with a buddy, or carry a weapon,” she said. The tone of her voice shifts from the very serious to the very playful. “I’m a bigger girl too, so that helps,” she said, laughing.

She also makes a point of not sharing her address for pick-up. It’s far more common to arrange meeting at a gas station or convenience store.

Ridesharing for some has already replaced buses. Even if a public service were resurrected, “I think I’d stick with ridesharing, just because it’s way cheaper,” she said.

It wouldn’t be easy to attract customers back to a bus service running to La Ronge, Dagneault said. To get people on the bus again, she thinks operators would have to charge no more than $30 for the same trip – close to the average price of an informal ride-share.

There may be a racial divide, however. In Dagneault’s experience, most of the people who utilize ridesharing on social media are people who live on reserve.

“That’s what I noticed. Most of the other people [in La Ronge] have their own vehicles. I guess it just depends on reach, and demographics. I noticed it’s mostly native people using the rideshare,” she said.