Final goodbye to Greyhound

"Bittersweet" was the word of the day at the last ever Greyhound bus departure from the Penticton bus depot. 

A few dozen people, mostly former employees or their family members, gathered at 1 p.m. on Wednesday to welcome the bus from Vancouver, and send it on its way to its final stop in Kamloops. There was a mix of tears and laughter, as old friends reunited and reflected on the end of an era. 

This final journey came on the day that the long-haul bus company officially ended its service to the South Okanagan and the rest of B.C., closing the book on 88 years of Greyhound history in the Okanagan Valley.

Lynn Murai was one of those present to witness the milestone moment, in honour of her late father. He was a Greyhound driver for 33 years, and the bus service looms large in her childhood memories of him. 

"It was always lots of stories of him on his trips, he would always drive along and stop if he saw things on the side of the road, he had a toolbox full of things that he would find," Murai said. "And there's not too many of the old people around anymore, so I wanted to see who was still here."

The final bus was driven by 39-year Greyhound veteran Blake Moore, greeted with balloons and a warm round of applause as he pulled into the station.

"I was pushing to get to 40 [years]," he said with a laugh. "They had to make a real big effort to get me to retire, as everybody's been telling me!"

Moore's mother, sister and brother-in-law were present to see him on his way to the conclusion of his route. 

"He's a senior driver, so he could have driven anywhere, but he's doing the last route here, so we're pretty excited," said Gord Barnes, Moore's brother-in-law.

Among the passengers on the final trip was Jim Adams, a former Greyhound driver who hopped on the bus in Vancouver and took it through to Kelowna, just to be a part of the journey. Holding back tears, he nodded when asked if the day was emotional. 

"A lot of good memories, a lot of good people, and a lot of fun drivers to work with," Adams said. "We were a family. We had a lot of fun together. "

Moore echoed the sentiment.

"That's been the greatest part about my career at Greyhound, is the people," he said, adding that seeing the crowd gathered at the Penticton depot was deeply moving. "The word I've been using is 'bittersweet.'"

The South Okanagan-Similkameen is now left without any long-haul bus routes, a concern MLA for Boundary-Similkameen Linda Larson addressed in the B.C. Legislature Monday.

"There is no reason for this last-minute scramble. Greyhound significantly reduced service to the northern parts of the province this summer, after warning the government almost a year ago that they would be cutting back, and ultimately stopping all service in B.C.," she said. "And now there are no viable replacement options for our residents."

Alberta-based bus company Ebus has stepped in to supply a route between Vancouver, Kamloops and Kelowna, but no such options are on the horizon in the Similkameen Valley and South Okanagan.

"The current proposed plan of using reservation-based companies with departures that only happen once or twice a day is no way to serve the residents of this region. Some of these routes, like Highway 3, will leave everyone living along that corridor without transportation options at all."

Shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday, the final Penticton Greyhound pulled away, carrying a handful of waving passengers and honking as it left the Ellis Street lot. At 2 p.m., the local franchise owner Lynda Verrier locked the doors of the depot forever.

Whether or not a new service steps in to fill its shoes in the South Okanagan-Similkameen remains to be seen, but Greyhound is officially gone.