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Bus service to and from Regina now discontinued

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.

            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.

            DiCal Transport of Melville made the decision to discontinue passenger bus service as of February 8, due to the low number of passengers.

            “We cannot continue to offer a service that is not sustainable financially,” said Diane Smith, who with her husband Calvin, owns and operates DiCal Transport.

            “We 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.

            “STC wasn’t making money on these routes when it was in service and I believe that just carried forward with the service that we were offering.”

            Although the DiCal busses were not offering freight service in the Canora and Kamsack areas, they were still pulling trailers to accommodate passenger luggage.

            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.

            “In 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.”

            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.

            “As a private company we are just unable to absorb the financial loss and keep our doors open,” said Smith.