Replacement for Greyhound

Photo: Facebook: Ebus

An Alberta-based bus company has announced plans to begin servicing major B.C. routes the day after Greyhound departs.

Ebus was approved this week by the Passenger Transportation Board to operate routes between Kelowna and Kamloops, Kelowna and Vancouver, and Kamloops and Vancouver.

The company expects to begin operating Nov. 1. Greyhound is axeing all of its B.C. bus routes on Oct. 31.

"We’re now working hard to finalize our locations in each city... We will announce when service and reservations become available in the near future," Ebus said in a news release issued late Wednesday.

Ebus will be mandated to run a minimum of one round-trip route per day on its three routes, and is able to increase its level of service at any point if the company chooses to do so. 

Greyhound said its departure is due to huge financial losses brought on by a more than 40 per cent decline in ridership since 2010.

Included in its approval decision, the PTB said Ebus "appears to be in sound fiscal condition."

Ebus has been operating in Alberta since 2011. Its sister bus service, Red Arrow, has been running in Alberta for nearly 40 years and is "the only luxury coach service of its kind in Canada," the company said.