Greyhound's replacement in southern BC will be up and running on Wednesday, October 31st.
Alberta-based E-Bus will serve the following routes:
John Stepozy, Director of Business development at Ebus, says they're anticipating a strong start.
"Sales are going well, and there's a lot of interest from the community with the change of landscape happening on October 31st," says Stepozy. "We encourage people to book in advance and not wait, because whether it's the holiday season or the weekends, we anticipate some busy periods."
Based on the strong community interest, Stepozy says there's a good chance that Ebus could expand in the region in the near future.
"We're certainly interested in filling as many gaps as viable," he says. "For us, it's a matter of starting up, establishing base service, and going from there. For now, it's about ensuring that we have sustainable service on these routes, and then we could see growth with routes or potentially growth through partnerships with smaller regional services - perhaps a company that runs a shuttle from Penticton that connects with us in Kelowna."
YLW will serve as Kelowna's Ebus terminal for the time being. You can buy tickets there or at myebus.ca.
So far, 83 percent of Greyhound's former routes have been covered by smaller bus services. The Ministry of Transportation is currently working to fill up the remaining 17 percent.
After October 31st, the only remaining Greyhound route in BC will be between Vancouver and Seattle.