Beaver Bus route between Selkirk and Winnipeg done as of July 1

"We had to make a very difficult decision," saidJohn Panting,the operations manager for Beaver Bus Lines. "

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It was after a lot oflooking at the numbers and trying to make it work so it's not like we arbitrarily decided to do that."

Ridership has declined 10 to 15 per cent over the past few years, making the bus route too expensive to run,Panting said.

The company eliminated the Saturday and Sunday schedule andpulled back the hours during the week to cut costs without success, he said.

An increase in carpooling and people choosing to drive rather than bus because of low gas prices have affected the company's decision to dissolve the service, he said.

"It's an economic decision but certainly emotion attached to that," he said. "We're a small family, a small company."

Panting said the company's charter services and contract busing services are doing great.