West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater says he hasn't heard from residents concerned about Greyhound potentially scaling back its service.
The bus company has applied to the Passenger Transportation Board to have routes between Kelowna and Penticton, Kelowna and Kamloops, and Kelowna and Vancouver to go from a weekly minimum frequency of 28 trips each way, to just 2.
“Because it was the meeting agenda and I believe here was an article in another media outlet I had expected I might get some public comment but I have received no public comment on it whatsoever,” says Findlater.
Greyhound says it's making the request to have the flexibility to respond to market, seasonable, and socio-economic changes and that it will maintain its current schedule on those routes “initially and adjust as required going forward.”
“In the case of West Kelowna we do have the Westbank stop so it is used,” said Findlater “When I go by there it always looks pretty busy so I expect the service will continue in some form.”
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran says he too hasn't heard from any concerned residents, however he is worried people will have one less way to get to the city.
“Certainly it is unfortunate that they have asked for this to take place but of course like any business, the routes have to be viable.”
Both Mayors say there are discussions to have rapid bus across the valley and that it could end up filling gaps that Greyhound cuts may leave.
“We have a lot of rapid bus options right now but we can always try and make it better and so that might be something we need to explore further in the coming months,” said Basran.
Greyhound is also asking for the route between Vancouver and Osoyoos to be rerouted through Penticton and Kelowna, removing stops in Princeton, Hedley and Keremeos, among others. The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen is writing a letter to the Passenger Transportation Board opposing the proposed changes.
The board is accepting public comments on the application until October 13, 2017. Greyhound wants the changes to be implemented for January 8, 2018.