A handful of B.C. communities will be benefiting from a new bus service in the North Okanagan and Shuswap, starting October 7.
Ebus has been approved for stops in Chase, Sorrento, Salmon Arm, Enderby, and Armstrong, on it’s daily route from Kamloops to Kelowna.
“Since Greyhound Canada reduced services and exited in 2018, communities between Kamloops and Salmon Arm have faced Inter-City Bus (ICB) service declines,” the Passenger Transportation Board wrote in it’s decision. “Communities between Salmon Arm and Vernon have lost ICB service, a significant fact that we have considered in this decision respecting the EBus proposal to expand service.”
Currently, the daily route has just four stops in Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna, and West Kelowna. The Ebus service from Kamloops to Kelowna currently goes down Highway 97 passing through Westwold and Falkland.
“The support letters received from communities between Kamloops and Vernon were given weight as an indicator of public need for establishing a required service at Chase and Sorrento, and for adding other the points that EBus proposes to add to its Route[from Kamloops to Kelowna].”
In issuing it’s decision, the Passenger Transportation Board rejected an application for a Kamloops-to-Prince George route, with stops in Cache Creek, 70 Mile House, 100 Mile House, Lac La Hache, Williams Lake, Quesnel, and Hixon. The PTB ruled that approving Ebus for this route could be detrimental to Adventure Charters and Rentals, that already operates a similar service.
“Regarding public need, we have received very little compelling evidence from the applicant to show that the service currently provided by [Adventure Charters and Rentals] is not meeting the public need,” wrote the PTB. “There were no letters of support from users or potential users for the additional features the applicant proposes. We find that the applicant has not demonstrated that there is a public need to add [to this route].”
Ebus says it’s pick-up and drop-off locations will be as follows:
- Salmon Arm: Husky service station at 50 Trans Canada Highway
- Sorrento Eastbound: Highway Stop at 1235 Trans Canada Highway (in front of Subway)
- Sorrento Westbound: Highway Stop at 1258 Trans Canada Highway (in front of the Petro-Canada station)
- Chase: Chase Visitor Information Centre at 400 Shuswap Ave
- Enderby: Enderby Chamber of Commerce at 700 Railway St.
- Armstrong: Highway 1 at Petro-Canada station at 3160 Smith Dr.