Greyhound closing their doors in Western Canada may have a softer impact on Lloydminster residents as competitors move into the market.
Edmonton-based bus service Cold Shot began some of their bus routes on November 1, the day after Greyhound discontinued services. The new company will provide one schedule bus to and from Lloydminster starting November 5. The route will leave Edmonton to Lloydminster at 9:30 am and travel back at 12:30 pm, with the possibility of new routes once demand increases.
Cold Shot President Sunny Bulwaria says the company will provide eight routes from Edmonton to northern Alberta by mid-November including four existing routes that Cold Shot partnered with Greyhound on.
“When we heard the news for Greyhound, it was a sad news for us because we have been with Greyhound since 2006. The company decided to move on with the remaining routes if we had all four routes running.”
There was high demand for the buses on opening day, Bulwaria says, and some buses almost ran at capacity.
“On some of the routes, we ran around 50 per cent (capacity) and some of them we ran 80 per cent on the schedules.”
Cold Shot has 18 buses and will have 10 more in mid-November with the expansion. Bulwaria adds that routes from Lloydminster to Saskatchewan is in the works.
“With the partnership with KCTI, moving from Lloydminster all the way to Saskatoon and then Regina.”
While the company works on factoring prices with demand and operational costs, Bulwaria believes the cost is cheaper compared to Greyhound.
“What I know is our running cost is cheaper based on the bus size we have. We are not running 55 coach buses seats, we’re running a 25 passenger small bus.”