A recent amputee who was heading to Calgary for a followup surgery was foiled in his attempt to catch the bus on Aug. 27.
Bill Phillips, 50, said he was waiting outside the Century Theatre for the 3:55 a.m. Greyhound bus to pick up him and three other passengers. According to Phillips, they waited until 5:15 a.m. before giving up on the bus arriving.
“I was there at 3:30 a.m.,” Phillips said. “I tried to find information and nothing was open.”
Phillips tried calling various customer service numbers to discover what happened to the bus while waiting and then after his incident. He wasn't able to find any help. Another passenger did manage to talk to someone but Phillips said it didn't resolve anything.
He was on his way to Foothills Medical Centre for a surgery to help ease pain in his shoulder. His arm was amputated in May following a car accident.
“I'm going through a lot of pain,” Phillips said. He said it could take another month to get the surgery rescheduled.
“I'm waiting on call now,” Phillips said. “It's a big inconvenience and I'm very upset I'm not getting told (what happened).”
He's been told he has to mail his ticket to Ontario to get a refund.
Phillips said he was standing on the sidewalk in front of the Century Theatre, which is where the Greyhound station is located in Innisfail. Standing at the corner of the theatre was part of the instructions he was given when he purchased his ticket.
He and his fellow passengers, an older woman and two men, kept an eye out at the back alley for the bus, he said. They didn't see anything.
Sandy Landin, the manager of the Innisfail Greyhound location, said the construction on Main Street means the buses are coming up the back alley. She said customers are instructed to stand on the sidewalk at the corner in front of the theatre for pickup.
She said this is the first time she's heard of something like this happening.
“We sell bus tickets all the time and no one's ever said they've missed the bus,” Landin said.
Timothy Stokes is a spokesperson for Greyhound. Calling from a number in Ohio, he said the bus did arrive in Innisfail 45 minutes late that morning.
He said the construction meant the bus went up the back alley.
Stokes said the driver has been notified in future to check all possible passenger locations before leaving. He's not sure what happened that morning and whether or not those passenger spots were checked.
He said if the passengers had gotten through on the phone, arrangements would have been made to put them in a cab, get them on the next bus or refund the ticket. He did note they received a call from one passenger but didn't say how it was resolved.
“We'll work to accommodate him as best we can,” Stokes said of refunding Phillips.
