The pick-up and drop-off point for Rider Express in Prince Albert, SK. [Photo \u00a9 Lisa Johnson]<\/strong><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″ custom_margin=”-26px|||||”]<\/p>\n
Beyond the limited geographical reach, one of the biggest differences between these upstarts and the STC is their terminals.<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 both relics in the intercity business now.<\/p>\n
The company had also invested $22 million in a brand-new terminal in Regina in 2008 \u2013 an investment many critics interpreted as wasted. It was later sold to the city for $16.25 million.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s a hub of sorts, but it isn\u2019t indoors, and it isn\u2019t so much as marked with a sign. In Lloydminster, it\u2019s a Tim Horton\u2019s; in North Battleford, a Petro-Canada gas station. Critics peg Rider Express pick-up points like these as woefully insecure.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody would know where you would catch the shuttle in P.A. \u2013 in the Giant Tiger parking lot. It wouldn\u2019t take a rocket scientist to lurk around if your partner was leaving you, or you came home and she was gone. It\u2019s just not safe,\u201d said Dusel, executive director of PATHs.<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 at the time being discussed behind closed doors in a working committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Benson told the committee.<\/p>\n
Uray said he\u2019s aware of the shortcomings of pick-up points. In Calgary, Rider Express changed its pickup location from a Tim Horton\u2019s to a gas station, for example, and is still looking for a better location.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the beginning we thought they were good locations but after some experiences it wasn\u2019t serving our needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Even the STC couldn\u2019t justify purchasing a dedicated depot at every stop.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/hitchhike\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/04\/WakawInn1.jpg” _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_margin=”||0px” custom_padding=”||0px”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”12px” custom_margin=”0px||” custom_padding=”0px||”]<\/p>\n
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 \u00a9 Lisa Johnson]<\/strong><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″ min_height=”502px” custom_margin=”||-3px|||”]<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
That lack of demand has also led to complaints that private bus services aren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere isn\u2019t enough demand for us to put service there. But it all depends on the government \u2013 if they can help us, we can go where we are needed. For now, these are the routes that are sustainable,\u201d Uray said.<\/p>\n
\nWe 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.”<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\u2013 James Parker<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
While he would be open to applying and being able to expand its routes, Uray isn\u2019t counting on government subsidies anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what is their plan. But I don\u2019t believe that will happen, because if there was a grant they would have paid and given it to Greyhound to keep the Greyhound,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In those cases, governments would have to step in, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrivate companies jumping into the service, they are hoping there will be passengers and there will be money,\u201d Uray said. Instead, they went out of business. \u201cIt happened after STC [left].\u201d<\/p>\n
And, it won\u2019t be easy for Uray to compete with the public company\u2019s customer approval rating. In both passenger and parcel service, the STC reported a 95 per cent satisfaction rate.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_title title=”off” meta=”off” featured_image=”off” admin_label=”Give a ride, take a ride” _builder_version=”3.21″ title_font=”||||||||” title_text_color=”#1c661d” title_font_size=”36px”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″]<\/p>\n
Give a ride, take a ride<\/span><\/h1>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″ custom_margin=”-23px|||||”]<\/p>\n
Partly because there are so many drivers in Saskatchewan, travellers like Vicky Dagneault are able to organize rides for cash using social media groups \u2013 a kind of high-tech hitchhiking.<\/p>\n
Ridesharing is what you have to do when you need a ride \u2013 and you\u2019ve got $20 or $30 for gas, she explained.<\/p>\n
Dagneault lives in Prince Albert, but lived in La Ronge for about 20 years \u2013 the majority of her life. She worked for six years as a social worker, earning a degree in social work in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s realistic about the challenge of travelling between La Ronge, Prince Albert, and Saskatoon when she needs to \u2013 without a car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always a way around it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Part of the reason regional transit operators like KCTI Travel gave up on Highway 2 is that \u201ca lot of people thought that [prices were] too high,\u201d Dagneault said.<\/p>\n
L.A. Family Shuttle ran passenger vans from La Ronge to Prince Albert briefly in 2018, charging $60 for an adult fare.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
People who aren\u2019t on Facebook don\u2019t know about it. Not surprisingly, elderly people don\u2019t typically post to the group.<\/p>\n
Dagneault helps friends find rides and offer rides in their cars, \u201cespecially if they\u2019re not working or something and need the cash,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had to post for friends, posting \u2018text this number if you need a ride,\u2019 and it\u2019s worked out a couple of times.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Dagneault considers herself lucky enough to have a friend in the north who travels often and can sometimes offer rides.<\/p>\n
But you can\u2019t count on those rides being offered according to your schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have no choice but to wait for the next day, or the day after that. It\u2019s 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\u2019t work out \u2013 the time frame just doesn\u2019t work out,\u201d Dagneault said.<\/p>\n
And, many people are reluctant to pick up someone travelling with kids, or extra baggage if they are moving to a different home.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t want to listen to kids crying all the way to PA, or having a tantrum or whatever. It\u2019s easier to catch a ride because it\u2019s just me,\u201d she said. For those people, a bus might be essential \u2013 but it would have to be priced right.<\/p>\n
Dagneault is as cautious as she can be with ride-sharing. \u201cLa Ronge is not too big \u2013 so I phone the people. I\u2019m pretty outgoing though, and I talk to everybody, so I know a lot of people so it\u2019s easier for me to find rides,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you never know,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And she\u2019s had some dicey experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere 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\u2019d be right there, and then he didn\u2019t show up, so I had to call somebody else,\u201d she said. She reported him to the ride-share group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s 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] \u2018my boyfriend and I will be waiting\u2019 \u2013 I think that\u2019s what threw him off and he didn\u2019t want to come,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her approach as an Indigenous woman, even when she\u2019s just catching a cab in the city, is to start talking into her cellphone immediately, demonstrating that she\u2019s \u201cforceful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people say they now travel with a buddy, or carry a weapon,\u201d she said. The tone of her voice shifts from the very serious to the very playful. \u201cI\u2019m a bigger girl too, so that helps,\u201d she said, laughing.<\/p>\n
She also makes a point of not sharing her address for pick-up. It\u2019s far more common to arrange meeting at a gas station or convenience store.<\/p>\n
Ridesharing for some has already replaced buses. Even if a public service were resurrected, \u201cI think I\u2019d stick with ridesharing, just because it\u2019s way cheaper,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It wouldn\u2019t 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 \u2013 close to the average price of an informal ride-share.<\/p>\n
There may be a racial divide, however. In Dagneault\u2019s experience, most of the people who utilize ridesharing on social media are people who live on reserve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s 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\u2019s mostly native people using the rideshare,\u201d she said.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.22.3″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/hitchhike\/back-to-hoofing-it\/” button_text=”Previous” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/hitchhike\/known-unknowns\/” button_text=”Next” button_alignment=”right” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-90","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
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