As Greyhound plans to cancel its passenger service next month to certain areas, including the Edmonton to Cold Lake route, other companies have been looking to step in and fill the void.
A local school bus company is planning to expand its services to include passenger routes.
“We are the in the middle of purchasing our buses and we're setting up our routes and we're taking calls,” explained Tammy Perepelitza, who owns Cold Lake Buses with her husband, Calvin.
The company is looking to run routes to Fort McMurray that would go through Lac La Biche, to Edmonton through St. Paul and Two Hills, and to Lloydminster, passing through Vermilion on the way there and Vegreville on the way back.
“So we're just sort of feeling some stuff out,” she explained, “and of course the people will decide. If they need the service every day, we'll offer it every day. If they need it twice a day, we would offer it twice a day. If they need it once a week, we'll offer it once a week.”
Perepelitza said they don't want to interfere with Greyhound's service, which runs until Oct. 24, but hope to be in business by the end of the month.
The company was approached by people in the oilpatch looking for transportation a few months ago. In the past, they said they were only involved in school buses, but recently decided to look into it.
“We're going to offer it, hopefully. I mean obviously you don't make a purchase of this magnitude hoping to go once in a blue moon to Edmonton, because that's not the idea behind it,” she said.
“But the response we're getting, it's incredible. We've even had calls from as far away as Winnipeg. It was very surprising. I didn't realize there was such a demand for it.”
The company has been looking at buses that seat anywhere from 37 to 56 passengers, and the number they buy will be determined by their use. She said one bus could handle going to Edmonton, Fort McMurray and Lloydminster once a week, but at least three would be needed if people wanted services every day.
“We're not saying, ‘We're only going to do this much.' We're going to whatever is needed.”
Like many other transportation companies, she said they are always looking for drivers, but will be able to run their passenger routes without affecting school bus service.
Tickets will be available to purchase on the company's website in coming weeks, and prices will be in line with those in the industry.
But Perepelitza assured they would not consider the venture if they didn't think it would be profitable.
“We're not out there planning to charge a million dollars a seat, it's just got to pay for driver and pay for itself.”
Another motorcoach company is looking to partner with local businesses to try and provide passenger service to various communities affected by Greyhound's service cuts.
“At this point, what's happening is we're reaching out to potential partners in a lot of these communities where there's either going to be complete cuts in transportation or even if it's cutbacks to service, to see if there are potential partners that might be willing to do a van service or something like that, work within our network, work within our system,” said John Stepovy, general manager of Red Arrow, “and Bonnyville is certainly one of the areas that we are looking in.”
He wouldn't go into details about which companies Red Arrow was speaking to, but said they could be existing transportation companies or even entrepreneurs looking to enter the field.
Stepovy said his company is looking for local partners and encourages anyone interested to contact him.
“Our preference is someone local. The locals understand the community,” he said. “They have a presence in the community and that's what we hope to foster.”
He said the goal is to firm up partnerships sometime next month, but it is hard to say because existing companies already have their own operations. He said Red Arrow would help with infrastructure, reservation systems and safety programs.
“We hope that someone steps up and decides that there's a good opportunity in the area and we're hoping for sooner rather than later.”
