Transportation in Nova Scotia
Blogger's Note: Kathleen's Shuttle and Tours has shuttle service through the Annapolis Valley to the airport and Halifax and to Digby and Yarmouth. Phone 902-834-2024 imgoing@auracom.com and www.freewebs.com/digbytoursandshuttle

Rural bus routes in jeopardy
Acadian wants to ditch run from Kentville to Digby, reduce service to Sydney
By GORDON DELANEY Valley Bureau
Wed. Jan 13 - 4:46 AM


Passengers board an Acadian Lines bus in Kentville on Tuesday. The bus company has applied to abandon its Kentville-to-Digby route. (GORDON DELANEY / Valley Bureau)





Transportation options in southwestern Nova Scotia are disappearing as Acadian Lines seeks to cut its rural bus routes.

The Montreal-based bus company, Groupe Orleans Express, has applied to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board to cancel its Kentville-to-Digby bus run, citing major financial losses.

The company said it lost $1.6 million on its Maritime routes in 2009 and plans to shift its focus to urban areas in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

It has applied to increase its service between Halifax, Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John, while reducing bus service in rural areas.

It has asked the board to allow it to reduce daily runs between Halifax and Sydney from three to two and discontinue a third run between Halifax and Kentville. It also wants to eliminate daily service between Kentville and Digby.

Just last month, the province announced it would no longer fund the Cat, the Yarmouth-to-Maine ferry, severing a major provincial transportation link. There are also doubts about the future of the Digby-to-Saint John ferry.

Local businesses are concerned about the cuts to transportation services in the region.

"Any cuts in economical modes of transportation for people and goods hurts economic activity," Gary Morse, president of the Eastern Kings Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday.

Groupe Orleans said the Kings Transit bus service is already serving the area and it is too small a market for two competing bus companies.

Kings Transit, a small, municipally owned and funded service, connects small communities between Weymouth and Windsor.

It doesn’t carry freight and is not equipped for long-distance travel, said Kings Transit chairman Mark Pearl.

"The only impact the Acadian Lines cut will have is in the expectations of the travelling public," Mr. Pearl said Tuesday.

"But we don’t operate equipment designed for long hauls. We don’t have washroom facilities, for example."

He said he is disappointed to hear Acadian Lines has applied to abandon the route. They share a Kentville bus station.

Mr. Pearl said Kings Transit gets a lot of requests for expansion of service, but without provincial funding, it could not replace the Acadian Lines service.

He said Kings Transit would be more interested in setting up a commuter service from Wolfville to Halifax. One of the holdups preventing the exploration of that possibility or replacing Acadian Lines is a lack of funding.

Passengers boarding the bus in Kentville on Tuesday were surprised to hear of the possible cancellation of the service.

"Really?" Marilyn MacKillop asked as she waited for the Acadian Lines bus to arrive at the depot. "I think this service is important. There are a lot of people who don’t have their own vehicles."

Ms. MacKillop said the service is especially important in the winter, when even people who own a car don’t want to drive.

"I don’t feel like driving in the wintertime. I’d rather get on the bus. That way, I have no worries."

Transport 2000 Atlantic, a public transportation advocacy group, is concerned about the reduction in bus service.

"All our regional rail service disappeared 19 years ago and now the bus service seems threatened too," said president John Pearce.

Mr. Pearce said there should be government support for buses, in the same way other modes of public transportation are funded.

"We spend a great deal of money on roads and (issues of) climate change and the fuel supply. I think we have to prepare to see quite a restriction on private automobile traffic."

Groupe Orleans spokeswoman Manon Piche has said Acadian Lines is a private company and its role is to make money.

"That is why we are trying to reinvent ourselves and propose a new way of offering service where we believe it will help us grow and be more successful."

( gdelaney@herald.ca)