Thompson Valley Charters is hoping to fill a gap in bus service in the North Thompson by operating a route from Kamloops to the B.C.-Alberta border.

In a letter to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, one of the owners, Roger Nadeau, says he is well aware of the gap in service that has been there since Greyhound ended its run in Western Canada in Oct. 2018.

“Thompson Valley Charters is currently in the process of obtaining our license to do an inter city bus service from Kamloops up through the North Valley corridor,” he said.

“Ebus is in agreement that this corridor is an important missing link for connecting to the rest of the province and Alberta.”

A number of routes in the Kamloops area have been filled by Ebus and other operators. As of Feb. 2020, there were just two former Greyhound routes in the province without bus service – the other being Fort Nelson to Watson Lake in Yukon, on the Alaska Highway.

Nadeau says he has spoken to Peter Milobar about this proposal, noting the Kamloops-North Thompson MLA is supportive of the proposal.

“He has had this on his radar for some time. His suggestion was that I contact the municipalities – Barriere and Clearwater – along the route to help promote it. If more people are calling for ridership, he will be in a better position to lobby the government for assistance,” Nadeau said.

Nadeau is proposing to have the bus run twice a week – one going north on Monday and returning on Tuesday and the other one going north of Thursday and returning on Friday. He told NL News he is working with Ebus to ensure his service complements their schedule so passengers can easily connect to and from Vancouver and Kelowna.

Milobar is hoping to see the province throw its support behind this proposal.

“Certainly after Greyhound pulled out there was a hope that private companies would come in and fill the void. I think there’s been more than enough time now passed that we realize that that route up the North Thompson has not found a private sector interest without some sort of government help for it, he told NL News.

“So, I think time has come that government needs to find a way to support a company that wants to provide the transportation service up through the Thompson Valley.”

Milobar says that with Air Canada temporarily stopping flights out of Kamloops there is an even greater need for this bus service.

“It is absolutely is the next steps that we need to get the municipalities to voice their concerns as well, but we more importantly need the provincial government to recognize that this is a big gap in overall connectivity for transportation for people in the North Thompson Valley,” he said. As we see now with Air Canada pulling out with flights to Vancouver it’s not just about getting even to Kamloops anymore to get down to the coast it’s about how do we get people to easily move through this province and not penalize them for living in a rural area.”

“This is a Kamloops company, they understand the valley well and the populations and the travel flow that people have for banking and commerce and medical appointments and visiting friends and family as well,” he added. ”

“So hopefully the government will see that it’s a legitimate idea and proposal and find a way to support this.”

The Mayor of Barriere Ward Stamer is in full support of the idea, who says the lack of bus service has been a hit to communities like his, north of Kamloops. He says it supporting the proposal from Thompson Valley Charters seemed like the logical nexts step.

“The is service we have three times a week service from Clearwater to Kamloops. So Clearwater, Barriere and Kamloops. And that’s been a very well received service. Unfortunately, it’s not a very big bus and a lot times they are running at more than almost 100 per cent capacity because of that,”  Stamer said on NL Newsday.

“I think that if we were able to supplement that with a larger bus and then having a larger scope of areas so that if someone wanted to go to Jasper and if somebody wanted to go to Edmonton they’d have another alternative instead of flying or driving their vehicle.”

– with files from Jeff Andreas

(Photo via Thompson Valley Charters)