Regina firm sees opportunity in void left by Greyhound

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This article was published 28/10/2018 (2153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Firat Uray ran a bus company that navigated the rugged terrain of Turkey in the Middle East for nearly two decades.

Now, he plans to cross a different terrain, left vacant by Greyhound’s imminent exit in Western Canada.

His company, Regina-based Rider Express, is scheduled to start taking Winnipeg passengers on Nov. 1 to Vancouver and back and points in between.

“An opportunity opened when we heard Greyhound was closing,” said Uray, who immigrated to Canada 12 years ago.

“We will be running across four provinces with nearly 10 million people. And this service is much-needed. That’s why we think we can have success in this area,” he said.

Uray started his Canadian bus business, Rider Express, after the Saskatchewan Transportation Corp. (STC), a Crown corporation created in 1946, shut its doors 18 months ago.

Rider Express ran routes within Saskatchewan on 15-seat passenger vans. To prepare for expansion, it bought six new 55-passenger buses in the past month to go with its four passenger vans.

If Greyhound doesn’t believe the bus lines are viable, what makes Uray think he can succeed?

“STC closed and they were not making money. We have a different way of making business and we are making money there,” he said.

“We are sustainable (in Saskatchewan) and we think we will be sustainable (running out of Winnipeg), too.”

Rider Express will run two routes: Winnipeg-Regina-Calgary-Vancouver, as well as Winnipeg-Regina-Saskatoon-Edmonton. Both replace Greyhound routes.

The first scheduled Rider Express bus to Vancouver is to leave Winnipeg at 11:30 p.m., the same time as the Greyhound it’s replacing. Uray is working on improving departure hours but will start off with the former Greyhound times.

A large portion of passengers in bus transport are students, seniors and workers moving between their jobs and homes, he said.

Rider Express purchased Setra buses. Setra is a bus division of German company EvoBus GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler AG.

Uray doesn’t see himself challenging the bus service within Manitoba. There are already four bus companies vying for business between Winnipeg and the North.

His next expansion could be east, connecting Winnipeg and Toronto, he said.

“For now, we want to stabilize this route. We want to go step by step,” he said.

Four different operators will be duking it out for passengers within Manitoba after Oct. 31, running regularly from Winnipeg to the north.

Among them are Thompson Bus Lines (owned by Thompson businessmen Jimmy Pelk and Siddhartha Varma), Mahihkan Bus Lines (formerly the charter service Kelsey Bus Lines operated by Aseneskak Casino in Opaskwayak Cree Nation), and Maple Bus Lines and Kasper Transportation, based in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Mahihkan plans to run daily service between Winnipeg and Thompson, and between Winnipeg and Flin Flon. Thompson Bus Lines has already started running from Winnipeg to Thompson and to Split Lake and Gillam.

Thompson Bus plans to travel to Gillam five days a week for $57.52 and to Cross Lake four times a week with a fare of $44.25.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca