Good-bye Greyhound

The last trans- Canada bus has made its final stop, discharged its last passenger - those buses will never again to be seen on those lonely stretches of highway across western Canada. All of the people who travelled by bus between small, sometimes remote communities or those who moved across the country to visit family or to look for a new life; all of the young people going somewhere to plant trees or moms with their young children going home have made their last journey by bus. They say that small companies are picking up the slack, that 85% of Greyhounds routes have some sort of coverage - but it will never be the same.

Whether you ever took a Greyhound bus or not, we should all take a moment today to say goodbye to a way of life, a way that allowed people to stay in touch with each other, a way that enabled people to make medical appointments, a way that allowed at least some Canadians - specifically those who did not have a lot of money or who lived in remote areas to see the country and to meet other Canadians. For so many of us it was simply a way to get home. With two or three exceptions, the bus ride was never fun, the seating was almost as cramped as the economy seating on Air Canada, sometimes it was noisy and the stops every few hours seemed to always be at strange little places that did not have the capacity to deal with 40 or more passengers all wanting to use the washroom and to get another coffee for the road. For those who made the three and a half day trip from Toronto to Vancouver, it was torture. At every stop they would stumbled off of the bus - stiff and cramped - jonesing for another hit of nicotine -to buy one more too-sweet donut - anything to mask the discomfort of those seats. But I did meet some interesting people on those trips. I had some great conversations and saw things that if I had been travelling any other way I would have missed. At least twice, when I was wet and cold, the bus picked me up in the middle of the night in what felt like the middle of nowhere and got me to a city where I could get dry, warm and ready to travel again.

Perhaps almost importantly of all - unlike VIA Rail and even Air Canada - the buses were almost on time.

To all of those bus drivers, most of whom were courteous, helpful and sometimes even fun - thank you for making what could have been a horrible time almost enjoyable, no matter how messy I looked, you treated me with respect ; to the ticket agents, the bus station cleaning staff and all of the folks who worked behind the lunch counters or cash registers - thank you for your grace under pressure and our demands for attention when I am sure you were as tired as we were. For my fellow passengers - I hope you will always get to where you need to be.

If I am lucky, I will never need to take an intercity bus again. The sad fact is that I may never be able to even if I need to. And that is a shame.