Albertans limited by ground travel as they head home this holiday season

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story said there are two buses a day running between Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. This version of the story has been corrected.

With only a handful of chocolates left in the advent calendar, travellers are making final bookings to travel home for Christmas.

But Albertans are somewhat limited this year in how they can hit the highways to get to their families.

“There are still a few more days left in the holiday travel, and we definitely anticipate more people making those last-minute decisions and trying to figure out how they’re going to get where they’re going for the holidays,” said John Stepovy, director of sales and business development with Red Arrow.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There are still a few more days left in the holiday travel, and we definitely anticipate more people making those last-minute decisions and trying to figure out how they're going to get where they're going for the holidays," said John Stepovy, director of sales and business development with Red Arrow.

Red Arrow has seen up to a 20 per cent increase in ridership this December compared to the same month in 2017, after Greyhound announced it was shutting down most of its service across western Canada.

“If we had a lot of snow in December, it certainly would be up a lot more,” Stepovy said. “But overall, we can say it’s been up with the change in the landscape.”

The company is running at least two buses a day between Lethbridge and Calgary, but they’re ready to add more if there’s a last-minute rush.

“We’ve added more schedules than we typically would’ve this time of year,” Stepovy noted.

WATCH: Concerns raised about gaps left by Greyhound departure

1:54 Concerns raised about gaps left by Greyhound departure

Other than Red Arrow, ground passengers don’t have many other options in southern Alberta.

In July, the province announced funding towards a pilot shuttle project for travel between Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, but that service won’t start until the end of January.

It will have 10 stops between the cities, including Coaldale.

“It’s just a great opportunity to make sure that Coaldale is a community that can accommodate people that need to be able to get around the region who might not have access to their own means of transportation,” said Cameron Mills, manager of economic and community development with the Town of Coaldale.

Officials said there wasn’t enough time to get the shuttle running before the holidays, but expect it to be a popular option.