(Image: Maritime Bus/Facebook)
Maritime Bus has put the brakes on planned service cuts as talks continue to help the financially struggling company.
In early January, the company said it would have to reduce services due to large operating losses caused by the pandemic.
The bus company planned to cut service between Fredericton and Edmundston and between Moncton and Campbellton as of midnight Friday. At the same time, service would have been reduced between Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John.
But on Thursday, Maritime Bus announced the service cuts would be delayed until Jan. 31 as municipalities and the province work on a cost-shared funding model.
“I strongly believe there is a possibility that stakeholders can come together to work out the proper funding formula to keep Maritime Bus on New Brunswick highways and roads,” Mike Cassidy, the owner of Maritime Bus, said in an interview.
Cassidy said the company has been working with governments in all three Maritime provinces since May to secure funding.
While Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have policies to provide grant assistance to “for-profit” companies like his, New Brunswick does not, he said.
Cassidy said financial support is critical to keeping all of his buses on the road.
“The only way that I, as an owner of a bus company, can save money is by not having my buses on the road and actually not incur operating costs,” he said.
The looming cuts come as Air Canada grounds its remaining flights at airports in Saint John and Fredericton.
Cassidy said Maritime Bus is essentially the last public transportation option in the province.
“Via Rail has not entered our two provinces [New Brunswick and Nova Scotia] since last March,” he said. “We’ve heard of what the airlines and have seen what the airlines have done to the Maritime provinces.”
But Cassidy said he is optimistic that a funding agreement can be reached before Maritime Bus needs to cut service.
“I don’t need the money before January the 31st. I just have to make sure that we can put an agreement in place and all stakeholders are understanding where we have to be and we all agree to how we’re gonna get there,” he said. “That would be enough for me right now.”
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