Town officials are looking into how best to fill the void for passengers and businesses now that Greyhound is pulling out of Olds, Mayor Mike Muzychka says.
Greyhound Canada announced July 9 that, effective Oct. 31, it will no longer provide any bus service in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well as northwestern Ontario, starting at Sudbury. It will only offer one route in B.C. which runs from Vancouver to Seattle.
The company said it made that decision because ridership has fallen eight per cent in Western Canada last year and 41 per cent across the country since 2010.
Muzychka told the Albertan that town officials discussed the problem Wednesday morning (July 11).
He noted two bus companies -- one in Atlantic Canada and one in Thunder Bay, Ont. -- say they're looking at expanding routes in the wake of the Greyhound announcement.
"Hopefully they'll do a business plan for Alberta and help us out with that," Muzychka said.
He said staff would be asked to not only look into that possibility but also into obtaining service in the short term via Red Arrow Motorcoach, which operates a bus service in the province.
Muzychka said the loss of Greyhound not only has an impact on the transportation for town residents but also for local businesses who have relied on the company to ship and receive freight.
"It certainly takes one of those away. So that just puts a little more pressure on UPS and FedEx and Canada Post as well," he said.
Overall, Muzychka said it's just disappointing to see a company that served the community for decades pull out.
"It's kind of sad to see that they're stopping their service. It's sort of the end of an era," he said.
