First-day headaches for new Okanagan bus service

Wednesday was a watershed day for transportation in the Okanagan and around western Canada as Greyhound ended its service.

However, other private companies are stepping in to fill parts of the void, including Ebus, which has been approved for several routes, including a run from Kelowna to Kamloops stopping in Vernon.

On Wednesday, I was covering the bus service transition and had planned to meet the 2:10 p.m. Kamloops Ebus to document its first day of service, but I ended up documenting one passenger’s travel headaches instead.

I got to the bus stop early and an Ebus was already there. The driver and the driver’s trainer politely declined my interview request so I set up to get some shots of the bus and asked the only passenger I could see if she would do an interview.

Student Melinda Mohos was taking the bus to school in Kamloops. She typically used the Greyhound, but this week she was taking the Ebus for the first time.

“A bus is a bus, as long as it gets me there,” she said.

Before we started talking, I checked the time and noted that there was still more than five minutes before the bus was scheduled to depart, but less than a minute into our interview the bus parked at the stop drove away.

WATCH: Concerns raised about gaps left by Greyhound departure

1:54 Concerns raised about gaps left by Greyhound departure

I stopped our interview and asked Mohos if she wanted to run after the bus, but noting that there was still time before the scheduled departure, Mohos wasn’t worried.

We figured the bus would probably come back, or maybe that was just a training bus and her bus was still on its way.

We finished our interview and waited. Fourteen minutes after the scheduled departure time, I called Ebus customer service to see if the departing bus was Mohos’ bus or if her bus was simply running late and was still on its way.

The customer service agent concluded that the departing bus was likely Mohos’, apologized and offered to switch her ticket to the next bus at 11:40 p.m., but Mohos declined.

“That’s way too late, and I have school tomorrow morning,” she explained.

“I’m done dealing with the bus systems. I understand this is their first day so maybe they are just a little disorganized.”

Mohos was told to follow up with the company via email and ended up not travelling to Kamloops.

After Global News contacted Ebus on Thursday about the confusion, the company said the bus that drove off was a training bus, and the bus meant to take Mohos to Kamloops was simply running 30 to 45 minutes late.

“Unfortunately, it was a case of confusion on everyone’s standpoint. We still continue to train additional operators in B.C. so the bus that left Vernon with the Ebus logos on it was actually a training bus,” explained Ebus director of business development John Stepovy.

“Unfortunately, we were a little bit behind schedule yesterday, anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the routes. It was our first day.”

WATCH: End of an era for Greyhound bus service in B.C.

1:56 End of an era for Greyhound bus service in B.C.

Stepovy said that unfortunately Ebus staff wasn’t informed that there was a training bus in the area. He said the company is working to improve every day and hopes Wednesday’s circumstances don’t happen again.

Mohos said that Ebus has since offered her a refund and a complementary ticket for her next trip.

“We’ve been in the scheduled service business for 40 years in Alberta. We know what we are doing, we are experienced. It was our first day in new markets with new staff,” explained Stepovy.

“We hope folks will bear with us and work with us through our start up, and we will be there for the community.”

Ebus is approved to run routes from Kelowna to Vancouver, Kamloops to Vancouver and between Kelowna and Kamloops.