P.E.I. shuttle company to begin charter service in N.B.

The owner of Advanced Shuttle Services in Summerside, P.E.I. says he plans to move forward with a charter service to New Brunswick.

Earlier this month, the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board denied David Anderson's licence request for a scheduled service to run between the two provinces.

The application was denied because there wouldn't be terminals and the service wouldn't go to every location if there weren't customers going there.

The board did, however, grant Anderson a charter licence, which he now plans to use.

A charter would be for individuals or groups who would book the shuttle to go to a specific location.

"The beginning process of it is to have our insurance company send a proper form to the board and to send our registrations over," said Anderson. "As far as an inspection after that — I don't know. They haven't mentioned that yet, what it needs for inspection for the province."

May reapply for scheduled service

He is looking to apply again for scheduled service for parts of New Brunswick, he said.

"The other idea that we've had is, being that we go from Prince Edward Island to Halifax on a daily basis, we do drive right by Port Elgin and Sackville. So I might reapply to have a scheduled service for Port Elgin and Sackville," Anderson said.

"That will then get us in the province with a scheduled service."

Employees with Acadian Coach Lines, the biggest shuttle company in the Maritimes, have been locked out in N.B. and P.E.I. since Dec 2.

A regulatory system set up in N.B. in 1937 restricts competitors from coming into New Brunswick.

Acadian currently has exclusive rights for most inter-city travel in New Brunswick under the Motor Carrier Act and in return, the company is required to run buses to communities where it doesn't make any money.

The Amalgamated Transit Union expressed confidence Monday that the contract dispute could be resolved next week.