The Salmo to Creston Greyhound route is one of the ones not receiving any service as the company ends operations across most of the western part of the country. The loss of service is an issue the Regional District of Central Kootenay Board of Directors have been considering and could be discussing at their regular meeting in December.
The Salmo to Creston route hasn’t been considered specifically, but Rural Creston Area B Director Tanya Wall says it’s an issue she’ll be looking into.
“Now that the election is over and we know who we will be working with, we will definitely discuss the mechanisms and see, you know, how our constituents have reached out to us with different comments and those kinds of things. Definitely need to look into it a little more.”
There is a Health Link bus service that goes to Cranbrook twice a week through BC Transit; however, Wall says it’s still a challenge for many seniors without vehicles to make it to medical appointments, especially now.
“The Creston Valley has a larger seniors population that uses the Greyhound, you know, to obviously travel outside of Creston to some of the larger cities because that’s a means of transportation for them and also getting to different doctors appointments, things like that.”
There may be some help, however. The Federal Minister of Transport, Marc Garneau, announced that if provinces determine that there is a need to address gaps in Greyhound service, the Government of Canada is open to considering providing provinces funding support on a cost-shared and transitional basis. The release also states, “Federal, provincial and territorial governments will continue collaborating to explore innovative, longer-term solutions to address the transportation needs of Canadians, focusing on emerging technologies, alternative service delivery models and more flexible regulations for bus service providers.”
You can find the full statement on the Government of Canada website here.