THE Passenger Transportation Board will fast-track applications from operators who want to serve parts of British Columbia that will be left without commercial inter-city bus service as a result of Greyhound Canada’s withdrawal from B.C. in October 2018, the Province announced on Wednesday.
Greyhound’s departure from B.C. will leave many areas of the province without inter-city bus service and access to essential services, such as work and education, and safe transportation.
To encourage other operators to fill the gap left by Greyhound’s exit, the board will:
* move inter-city bus applications to the front of the line, and give them priority status at each step in the process,
* streamline processing timelines for published applications, or
* apply the urgent public-need process, where publication is not required, for applications on rural or remote corridors.
Private businesses that voluntarily withdraw services in the province must provide notice to the registrar of passenger transportation in the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, and return plates and identifiers. This is an administrative process, and Passenger Transportation Board approval is not required.
Information about inter-city bus application requirements is posted on the Passenger Transportation Board website: http://www.ptboard.bc.ca/
The Passenger Transportation Board is an independent tribunal established under B.C.’s Passenger Transportation Act. Its primary responsibility is to make decisions on applications relating to licensing of passenger-directed vehicles (e.g., taxis, limousines, shuttle vans and inter-city buses) in British Columbia.
