I will begin by admitting very few people choose to ride an STC bus. Nor does anyone pretend that it’s a profitable venture for the province, especially since it’s heavily subsidized. But I come here not to curse the province’s bus service, but to defend it. Now that there are people who are trying to shut the service down – the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, specifically – it’s time to remember why it’s subsidized. That reason is right in the first sentence of this column, it’s because for many people they do not choose the bus, the bus is thrust upon them.
This bus service is subsidized because it is a lifeline to remote, rural areas. It serves as a package delivery service, and a people delivery service, and that’s the core of why it’s so important to keep it alive. For many people who STC serves, the bus is the only option, whether it’s getting them to larger centers which they lack the transportation to access otherwise, or getting them packages they would not otherwise receive. It’s a link for people who otherwise might not have a link, and for a lot of communities, it’s a link nobody else really wants to provide.
The CTF points out that the people in these areas are resourceful and could figure out an alternate methods of doing the same service. Perhaps they could get some sort of large vehicle that can transport a large number of people and a variety of cargo between two points. It could be long and roughly rectangular, I think there’s a word for it, starts with ‘b.’ Oh right, a bus, we have that already, STC runs it. They suggest a private industry could operate a replacement. But for a lot of these routes, they would need some kind of encouragement, because they’re not going to serve a lot of people. Maybe some kind of cash payment from the government to encourage the usage of relatively unprofitable routes. Or you could just spend $14 million on STC like we already do, since that seems to be the price of operating those routes.
Which is not to say that there are no changes that could be made. There could be different vehicles used on less populated routes, just to lower the costs of operation. Even the times of bus services could be changed to reflect traffic on different routes. It’s sensible to try to save money on the service, but the service is still necessary, so it still needs to exist. If there are ways to make routes less expensive to run while still providing service for everyone who needs it, we should look at them, but we start by making sure we provide the right level of service, rather than start from the perspective of cutting costs.
It also still needs to cost the same for the end user. Remember, many people don’t choose the bus, it is chosen for them, and for some of those people it is because of a limited income. If you can’t afford to drive yourself, you need that bus, and you need that fare to be relatively inexpensive. The result is that bus fares have to be priced with people with limited income in mind. People who can’t afford a reliable car are going to be a big part of the bus traffic, and they’re not going to be able to absorb a big fee increase.
That’s also the reason why a private option is not going to be a suitable replacement for STC. There are plenty of private bus companies in the world, it’s going to be difficult to convince them to take on a route that is proven to not make money. They can take it and raise the price, which defeats the purpose, since it exists because other options are not economically viable. They can take it and lose money, but that’s not going to be something any private business is going to be willing to do, and nobody should expect them to do that either. Instead, we have a perfectly functional provincial bus service, which exists largely to provide that service to communities which would otherwise get cut off. That’s what it’s there for, that’s why it gets a fairly large subsidy each year, and that’s why we should happily pay for it.
It’s easy to forget that a service like STC is necessary, especially when you’re in a demographic that does not need to use it. On paper it doesn’t make as much sense, since it’s a service that will likely never actually make money. But the reason it is important has nothing to do with paper, it’s all the people who use it as a lifeline for their communities.
If STC closed tomorrow I will admit that it would not affect me. I have not ridden the bus in my adult life, and this city is well served for courier services. The difference is that I am well aware that I am not the only person in the world, and there are many people in this province with needs that are significantly different from mine. Many of these people need the bus, and without STC to provide it there would be no replacement for them.
It would be a huge blow to their community, and this is why, in spite of problems, the bus needs to keep moving.
