Companies wanting to step in where the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) left off are finding out just how exhausting and hostile the process can be.
On Wednesday, STC came to the end of the road after 71 years on Saskatchewan highways.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan Transportation Company comes to end of road
The wheels are now in motion for private businesses to take over the freight and passenger service. At least 11 have applied to take over routes, but already one of the companies is giving up, saying there are too many roadblocks.
“We were prepared to go June 1st and as things turn out with the Highway Traffic Board bureaucracy, we’ve decided that the timing just isn’t good for it,” Carpe Diem general manager Mitch Blyth said.
“With all the people contesting, all the lawyers and another limousine company in Saskatoon contesting it – it’s going to drag it through our busy season and quite frankly we really don’t have time for it right now.”
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Blyth added that they’re not ruling out a charter service for cancer patients or others in need but they just weren’t prepared for the battle ahead.
“A lot of the people that were interested have received threats from activists, I actually myself received a threat where an individual was telling people where I live and to come and say their piece to me here,” Blyth said.
He didn’t report the threat to police and said he does feel bad that people lost their jobs when the provincial government, as a cost-saving measure, axed STC.
“People seem to think there was some type of collusion, which was completely wrong,” Blyth said.
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Highway Traffic Board hearings for applicants facing opposition start Tuesday, June 6.
“They’re getting opposed by everybody and not just within the industry but people that just have a beef so it’s making it very difficult for anybody to pick up the slack that STC has left,” said James Rolston with Living Skies Limousine.
At this point, passengers who relied on the service will need to lean on others for a lift for the foreseeable future.
Rolston says he may still throw his name into the hat and that a prolonged process may not be a bad thing if it means things are done right.
“We want to keep the people in their small towns, keep people in their local communities but still have access to what they need to live on a daily basis and in the end that’s what it comes down to,” he said.
“How it’s done? I think everybody just has to take some time and realize it’s going to take some adjustment.”
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