According to Paddy Brown, who operates the Greyhound stop out of his Flowers Galore business, Wednesday, October 15, 2015 was the last day Greyhound will run its passenger bus route from Cranbrook to Calgary, with stops in Kimberley and up the valley.
“Greyhound service is cancelled,” Brown told the Bulletin. “They sent us a bulletin this week.”
Brown says freight won’t be affected, although it will wait in Golden about 12 hours longer for pick up.
“Sun City will provide a passenger service to Golden where you can catch the Greyhound,” he said. “The problem is you catch it at 6 p.m. and are up to Golden at 9 p.m. The bus to Calgary comes in at 2 a.m. and gets to Calgary at 5 a.m. It’s an awful trip.”
Brown says that from his experience operating the depot for the past several years, a lot of the people who use the service are elderly people going to medical appointments.
“This will be really tough for them,” he said.
Greyhound approached City Councils and the RDEK areas affected by the potential route cancellation last June. At the time, Kimberley City Council was very opposed to losing the vital link to Calgary.
Mayor Don McCormick said at the time that he hoped Greyhound is actually willing to listen to the input they get and not just asking as a matter of procedure.
Brown says that he understands it’s economics but that Greyhound had to apply to the BC Passenger Board for approval to drop the route.
“They allowed it and should be held accountable,” he said. “It’s sad really. The real losers are people going to medical appointments.”