Flixbus in Saskatchewan
What this means for connectivity in the province.
After the province lost a reliable way of connection from one major city to another, Flixbus is coming in to fill the void. RiderExpress is a thing, however, the key is reliability. One both the STC and Greyhound was known for.
Flixbus is starting its operations in the province on July 01 2025. The 3 major cities that the company seems to connect are, Saskatoon, Regina and North Battleford.
Pricing was a major issue with regards to private companies as they are in to make money almost right away. As a result the cost per seat was quite high. The tickets on Rider Express were a little higher than what it is know when they first started operations.
Flixbus being a major corporation and tech company has been able to reduce the cost of the same trip by around 25%, when booked early. Flixbus, unlike STC, Greyhound or RiderExpress, uses dynamic pricing similar to commercial airlines. Therefore as the bus gets full the price goes up.
As mentioned earlier Flixbus is fundamentally a tech company. The platform to buy tickets and ticketing itself is done by Flixbus, but the operations in Saskatchewan are to be undertaken by a company called Universal Coach lines. In Ontario some of the Flixbus routes are operated by Galaxytours for example.
The stop in Regina is at the Victoria Square shopping centre. The closest Regina Transit stops are served by routes #2, #7, #9, #21 and #50.
Downtown (Cornwall Centre): #7
University: #21
The stop in North Battleford is seems to be close to the Mcdonalds on the Southside of town. As surprising as it is, North Battleford does have transit. The blue line runs Southbound and the green line runs Northbound and they both seem to be within a 150 m of the Flixbus stop.
Saskatoon’s Flixbus stop is close to the airport but not at the airport. The closest transit bus stop is around 650 m to where Flix picks up and drops off passengers.
Airport: 20 - 25 min walk
Downtown: #11 (Stop#: 5840)
As far as the location for Flixbus in Saskatoon is concerned, they seemed to have chosen a location which is far from ideal. Not close to any major facility and the closest bus stop being a 650m walk away without a shelter.
Just imagine how hard it would be to get from the closest bus stop in either +30C or -40C. Using the airport as a terminal to pickup and drop off passengers would have made a lot more sense. Another option would have been to have the stop at a BRT stop where there would be a decent amount of connections.
Getting connectivity back to Saskatchewan has been an uphill battle ever since the SaskParty headed by Brad Wall decided against protecting the interests of the vulnerable in the province.
Most of us remember when STC shuttered in 2017. It indirectly forced Greyhound out of business. People who were unable to either afford to own and operate a vehicle or unable due to a physical condition got stranded almost overnight. At the moment, the hope is that service can be ramped up over the next couple of years where we can enjoy a minimum of 3 services a day to and from these cities that we had pre 2017.