A company looking to provide bus service in the Merritt area says it now has a funding partner lined up.

Merritt Shuttle Bus Service director of operations Gene Field says an investor of Kamloops has signaled interest in helping his company start up.

He says he hopes to have the service up and running late in the winter, adding the process to get started will still take several more weeks.

“I’d like to have all the paperwork and everything done by the end of the month, and once I know the money’s coming in and get some of it, then I can start purchasing the busses. And even if I’ve got some of them being inspected by the end of the month I’d be really happy with that,” Field says.

“We’re gunna be going from Merritt to Prince George, Merritt to Langley, Merritt to Kelowna. We’re gunna be doing Merritt to the copper mine, Kamloops to the copper mine, Logan Lake to Kamloops and Spences Bridge to Kamloops.”

The company has a new deadline of Feb. 28 to get a minimum of two busses insured.

Field says he has aspirations to further expand service once it gets rolling in the Merritt area.