Recent comments quoted in your paper suggest a lack of knowledge by our mayor about the service provided by Greyhound to this community.
We have lived here for 50 years and any time we had occasion to use the service it was always available on time seven days a week. In all that time it has never asked, to my knowledge, for any assistance from the community. It has always just been taken for granted. Now Mayor Ashton, who wears the hat of our leader and also that as chair of the regional district, suggests that Greyhound has failed us. As a user, I beg to differ.
I suggest that over the years, Greyhound has brought more passengers in and out of Penticton than our airport has, yet the airport gets all the credit. If you wish to get downtown Vancouver it is probably quicker to take the bus since there is no need to be there until a few minutes before boarding and you arrive centrally in Vancouver. Not only that but it goes rain or shine. We find that it is much preferable to flying or driving. Our car stays in our heated storage rather than sit out in the rain, and getting around Vancouver is easier by cab, Translink or on foot than looking for parking.
Rather than criticize the depot or the equipment (both of which operate without government aid, unlike the airport) our mayor should be encouraging citizens to have a second look at this alternative. It is Greyhound that stitches this province together. No other alternative to the car exists.
I find it scary that our mayor, head of our regional district and would-be candidate for MLA to Victoria, speaks so definitely about a subject that he probably has never used. If you agree, let City Hall know.
William J. Titheridge
Penticton
