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Deadline extended to get bus service on the road

The owners of a fledgling bus company working to get a service connecting Prince George to the southern half of the province in place secured a second deadline extension. Merritt Shuttle Bus Service Ltd. now has until Jan.
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The owners of a fledgling bus company working to get a service connecting Prince George to the southern half of the province in place secured a second deadline extension.

Merritt Shuttle Bus Service Ltd. now has until Jan. 7 to get at least two buses on the road. It originally had until Nov. 21 and then Dec. 1 under the terms set out by the Passenger Transportation Board.

Co-owner Gene Field said Friday he remains in the process of getting investors to finance the venture.

"The good thing is because we've already got a licence and we've already been authorized...we just need to get some money together for the buses," he said.

Field said municipal councils and First Nations are also being approached for support.

"We're hoping that the communities will want to chip in, even if it's like $5,000 each," he said. "We're going to bring in a lot of business and we're going to be servicing their people."

The company was among a half-dozen applicants who won Passenger Transportation Board permission in October to run long-haul services across B.C. as Greyhound Canada pulled out of Western Canada.

The plan is to run eight 22-passenger shuttle-sized buses along four routes centred on Merritt but also serving Prince George, Langley, Kamloops and Kelowna. Frequency of service along those routes must be at least three round trips a week.

MSBS also won permission to run four 48-passenger buses twice a day between the Highland Valley Copper Mine and Merritt and Kamloops.

As long as at least two buses are on the road by Jan. 7, MSBS will retain the rights to all of its routes, according to Fields.

He said the company is also putting applying to operate along Highway 5 between Valemount and Kamloops, one of eight routes across B.C. that remain unfilled since Greyhound's departure.