EDITOR,
I have seen news stories of the horrible service that Greyhound is providing these days through out British Columbia, and I can agree with them from experience! My daughter travels on the Greyhound bus regularly, usually from Squamish to Vancouver. We have gone to wait for buses and none will show up! On Christmas, I phoned ahead and found out that you had to pre-purchase your ticket, so I did. We showed up for the time that we chose, only to be told by the driver that we would have to wait to see how many got off her bus. Luckily, enough got off and my daughter got a seat! Now, why have us pre-purchase a ticket then not have a seat?!
Then last weekend, the bus pulled up and the driver got out to have a smoke. He asked if we had a ticket, we replied no, so he said that you had to pre-purchase tickets! Well, this was news for us, because in the past we never had to except for Christmas Day! He said that he was full and had turned people away in Whistler. He said that we would have to wait and see if there was a seat before he left! We waited patiently and sure enough there was a seat available! He also let us purchase a ticket from him but told us in the future that we needed to pre-purchase them.
Another complaint about the Greyhound bus service is their station. They are open very few hours and they don't take care of the place. There was only one overhead light working last weekend, so it makes it quite dark, they are located right next to an empty lot, so it is scary for a young teen to wait there by herself. I always stay with her until she gets on the bus. And the garbage everywhere is horrible! Is there no pride with this business?
It seems to me that Greyhound bus serviceneeds total improvement or if they don't want to do anything let another bus company take over their route!
Suzanne Kirkman
Squamish
Editor's note: Justin Baynton, Greyhound Sea to Sky operations manager, responded, "Thank you for taking time to share your concerns. Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 8, we put in place a system that wouldguarantee passengers holding a date- and time-specific ticket a seat for that scheduled departure. This was posted at depots in the Sea to Sky Corridor for six weeks prior to Dec. 1. Christmas is by far the busiest time of the year for transportationcompanies, including us. We alwaysrecommend planning far in advance to avoid any potential issues. Driverswere beingextremely cautious when unloading and reloadingpassengers at depots like Squamish as we have several local commuters getting on and off the bus at thisterminal. Recounting available seats after passengers from Whistler-Squamish got off the bus was simply precautionary and we appreciate everyone's patience. Our terminal in Squamish was closed a total of three days in 2012: Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. We are openMondaythroughFriday 7 a.m. to noon and 2 to 5 p.m., weekends and holidays (not including the holidays above) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wetake pride in keeping a tidy and welcoming depot and clean every day. We apologize for anyunsightly mess between non-operating hours. Weclean any mess left outside after ourbusinesshoursuponarrival of our shift in the morning.Thank you again to all of our local commuters for being patient with the temporary change to commuter tickets. Because of your cooperation wesuccessfully got through what Iwould consider one of our busiest travel periods in the past three years, almost problem free. We apologize to anyone who may have had a negativeexperience with us during the holidays.If you have any other questions or concerns feel free to call our terminal at (604) 898-3914duringourbusinesshours. Happy New Year!"
