Greyhound reduces Olds service

Olds residents wanting to go to Edmonton and Calgary via Greyhound service now have to wake up very early.

Since Nov. 14, the bus leaves for Calgary at 4:20 a.m. and returns at 12:30 a.m., while the Edmonton bus leaves Olds at 2:05 a.m. and comes back at 12:45 a.m.

“The service has been reduced based on demand for the service,” said Stephen Hutchings, Greyhound director of operations for Western Canada.

Hutchings could not give the average number of Olds customers when asked.

Under the previous schedule buses made three stops per day in Olds. Moreover, it would take an hour for the bus to cover the Olds-Calgary distance, whereas now it takes one hour and forty-five minutes.

On June 27, Alberta Transportation decided to open up inter-city bus service to other companies besides Greyhound. As a result, Greyhound abandoned 12 corridors and reduced frequency on other corridors.

“In some cases, the corridors were enhanced,” said Hutchings.

“As far as the freight component of Greyhound Canada, it has certainly been enhanced on all corridors. There is no reduction of services as far as our freight business is concerned.”

Greyhound maintains that the decision to reduce the service had to be made.

“As a private business providing a service, if there is no significant demand for that service, then business decisions do need to be made,” said Hutchings.

“It does not make business sense to continue putting a 50-passenger through a town where there is no continuous demand for that service.”

The reason why Olds was given these early morning departure time is because of the town's low ridership, he said.

“Those schedules depart Edmonton and Calgary at 12 a.m. so the timing into Olds, either north or south, is dependent onto the departures of both Edmonton and Calgary.”

Greyhound will service Olds as long as there is a demand for it, he said.

“We are certainly not in the business of abandoning service where there might be some demand for it.”

One passenger has made her dissatisfaction with the new schedule publicly known.

In a letter to the editor published in this week's Albertan, Olds resident Carol Shantry wrote that she thinks Greyhound has gone mad.

“The new once-a-day schedule is not acceptable,” she said.

Shantry spends every weekend in Calgary visiting a friend.

“I do not drive on the highway,” said Shantry.

“The new schedule means I would have to come home at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday night, instead of the 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.”

Shantry estimates that there were at least three or four passengers on every bus she took.

“There were lots of people going to Red Deer too. I do not know what is happening to them,” she said.

Olds residents do have another option for going to Calgary by bus.

Since Oct. 5, Carol's Country Shuttle has been offering a weekly special service to Calgary.

The small charter company, which is based in Sundre, has seen its clientele increase since its beginning.

“It is not a surprise. When Alberta Transportation announced this summer that they were making changed to the regulation, we knew it would open up opportunities for smaller carriers like Carol's Country Shuttle,” said Carol James, owner and operator of Carol's Country Shuttle.

“As a result, we are using our 15-passenger van on a weekly basis. We did not find enough demand to go every day.”

Should the demand increase, James is willing to step into the breach left by Greyhound.

“If there was the demand, yes. I originally thought we would be able to go every day,” she said.