https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-northern-...
It could make sense for the government to step in here with a publicly owned transit service if there is a real market failure here in that it's not at all profitable to serve the sparsely populated North.
"'This is an interim solution to cover the loss of Greyhound while we work with communities,' said Transportation Minister Claire Trevena, who said B.C. Transit would be spending $2 million to operate the service starting June 4."
I'm kind of surprised they aren't making it permanent though - $2 million seems pretty cheap, and making it government-run ensures it won't be taken away again.
Government programs start small like a foot in the door. Then they start to grow due to their very nature (provide a service with no regard for cost or return, if town B has a service then town D is also entitled to one, etc) and the argument is always that their service is indispensible.
Then of course the interests of those working for the state-controlled company also play a role, and the existence of the service starts to become a political sticking point that syphons millions each year and piles o millions more in debt.
It only ensures that it won't be taken away again until the next time the province elects a majority Tory government.
If its unprofitable, maybe its a bad idea to have unused transportation. While a few buses seem like negligible damage to the environment, I imagine this greater plan is to grow these locations that are in unfavorable geographic locations. Isnt this environmentally irresponsible?
What's the point of money if we're only going to use it to make more of it?
Rural areas should be designated for food production and tourism.
It's a fair question. If the attendance is truly low, maybe a subsidized taxi service would be a better replacement, for example.
I doubt that. Especially combined with home insurance.
Remember that something like 80% of global pollution comes from industry. Focusing too hard on individual vehicles is a smokescreen--even if every driver in the world switched to electric cars/trucks/buses tomorrow, it wouldn't make much difference by itself.
For instance having it be closer to a taxi service with small vehicles when there's low usage and only run big buses on commuting hours or other high usage time, for instance.
Cost and environment impact are legitimate questions, I think there are decent solutions.
Having unsustainably small communities is probably less environmentally friendly than growing them to a size where not all services / materials need to be individually imported.