Selkirk loses third bus service to Winnipeg in three years

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This article was published 20/08/2019 (2254 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Selkirk is once again without bus service to Winnipeg, after Kasper Transportation suddenly shuttered its intercity service on Tuesday.

The bus line’s owner Kasper Wabinksi said he lost $200,000 running the route for two years and just couldn’t continue.

Ridership was sliding after he had to increase rates and reduce frequency to make ends meet.

“It’s an important route that I personally want to keep operating, but I can’t jeopardize other routes,” said Wabinksi.

“Some routes are still important to people, but they’re not necessarily profitable.”

Wabinski said he was able to reduce losses on the route from $40,000 a month to $2,000-3,000 a month by raising fares from $7 to $15 and cutting service from 18 daily runs to six round trips.

But customers complained, he said.

“The original schedule was way too frequent and way too cheap,” he said. “It wasn’t enough. For a 30, 40-minute bus ride, $7 was dirt cheap.”

“We stuck with it for two years, which is longer than the last company,” he said.

For decades, Beaver Bus Lines operated an inter-city bus. But in 2016, it dissolved. Exclusive Bus Lines took over but folded the route after a year.

“It’s a disappointment,” said Selkirk Mayor Larry Johansson. “It’s a service I would definitely like to see continued.”

Wabinski said he asked the City of Selkirk for $39,000 a year to keep the line running but did not receive it.

“To use taxpayers’ money for private business… We wouldn’t have done anything like that,” Johannson said.

Johannson wants to look at opportunities to work with other nearby communities to get bus service to more people.

“The biggest losers in this are going to be the commuters,” Wabinski agreed. “People going to Winnipeg are going to have to find alternatives.”

tvanderhart@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @tessavanderhart