聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 The bus service that had begun transporting passengers from Kamsack and Canora to Regina on November 7, 2017, has discontinued its service to the area.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 DiCal Transport of Melville made the decision to discontinue passenger bus service as of February 8, due to the low number of passengers.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e cannot continue to offer a service that is not sustainable financially,鈥� said Diane Smith, who with her husband Calvin, owns and operates DiCal Transport.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e heard rumours that seniors in the communities were boycotting our bus service because they wanted to see the government bring back the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) busses.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淪TC wasn鈥檛 making money on these routes when it was in service and I believe that just carried forward with the service that we were offering.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Although the DiCal busses were not offering freight service in the Canora and Kamsack areas, they were still pulling trailers to accommodate passenger luggage.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Each trip to Regina had to be pre-booked by calling DiCal at its Melville office. The bus only came to the area on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but did not come if there were no passengers booked.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚n the timeframe that we were offering service to the area we had only four passengers from Kamsack. The feedback from our riders has been positive.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Smith indicated that DiCal will not be offering the service to the area again in the foreseeable future, citing high costs associated with running the service versus no financial return.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淎s a private company we are just unable to absorb the financial loss and keep our doors open,鈥� said Smith.
