“Skyrocketing” costs, inflation, and reduced ridership have forced Cold Shot rural busses to remove service between Grande Prairie and Fort St. John.
According to Cold Shot Bus Lines President Sunny Balwaria, the company has made numerous requests to the provincial and federal governments for assistance; however, years and years of losses have made it too unaffordable to continue providing service between the two cities.
“With great regret, we are informing our Grande Prairie to Fort St. John staff and customers that we are removing our service,” he says. “We simply can’t afford to sustain further losses, especially without assistance from the provincial, or federal governments.”
Officials say the COVID years were particularly hard on the company, incurring losses of more than $3 million as a direct result of having to run at half capacity. Now, as their fleet continues to age, combined with rapid cost increases and inflation, officials say the Grande Prairie to FSJ route is simply unprofitable.
“Our requests have been for funding to offset our losses – not to make a profit, but simply to stop losing money,” Balwaria maintains.
The federal Safe Restart Agreement was announced in September 2020, with $70 million from Ottawa to support municipal transportation that the Government of Alberta Matched; however, according to Cold Shot, none of the $140 million was allocated to inter-city transportation.
“The irony is that we were just starting to turn a profit when COVID hit, but the bottom line is that the politicians indicated that, as the government of the people, they didn’t see a need to assist us, to continue providing rural transportation services to rural people.”
The reduction brings the company down to just five and a half routes, after taking over 11 rural Alberta routes when Greyhound left the province in 2018.
