We won’t leave people stranded, Alberta Transportation Minister

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – One private company says it’s doing its best to fill the gaps left across Western Canada in Greyhound’s wake.

Red Arrow along with its sister company E-Bus have been adding new routes, E-Bus even expanded into British Columbia on Wednesday.

According to the Alberta government, it’s just one of several companies that have stepped in to fill the vacancy, others include Northern Express Bus Line, Cold Shot and Rider Express.

It estimates they’ve done enough to fill 82 per cent of Greyhound’s former routes, while the British Columbia government puts its figure at 83 per cent. 

“We’ve certainly seen an increase of activity into our system,” said John Stepovy, Director of Sales and Business Development. “Not only do we have Red Arrow which we recently expanded into Grande Prairie in the middle of October to help with some of the voids around the province, but we have also expanded our E-Bus brand into areas like Fort McMurray, we’ve added additional schedules between Edmonton and Calgary to help with some of the demand, so we think between our E-Bus and Red Arrow brands that we cover the province well.”

Stepovy says they’ve stepped up to help fill that shortage.

“The nice part today is that we’re connected, a lot of people have smart phones, tablets and things, so we are seeing quite a bit of activity on our website and general inquiries,” he said.

He’s also not ruling out further expansion, they’re waiting to establish some of the new routes first in hopes of building on their ridership.

Red Arrow has been in operation in Alberta since 1979 while their brand E-Bus is relatively new in comparison.

Alberta and the federal governments will invest up to $2-million per year, over two years, to provide service to small and rural communities. They’re hoping that cost-sharing agreement will draw proposals to fill any remaining service gaps.

“We will not leave people stranded by the side of the road,” said Alberta Transportation Minister Brian Mason in a statement.

Greyhound until Thursday, had been operating in the province for decades and served more than 100 communities.