Regina bus company plans to start servicing Greyhound routes in September

A Regina company plans to make sure the Western Canadian bus routes that Greyhound is leaving won't be empty for long — or at all.

Rider Express Transportation says they're working to get licensed to be able to drive buses from B.C. to Manitoba.

As of right now, the company offers road transportation within southern and central Saskatchewan using 15-passenger vans.

The company's president Firat Uray said that, with a few upgrades, he thinks the company can start providing inter-provincial bus service within a month.

"If everything goes well we are planning middle of September," Uray said. "We already applied for licensing for those provinces and we are already buying some more buses for our fleet."

Those new buses will be bigger than their existing fleet, and will be able to transport 55 or 46 passengers at a time, he said.

Uray said the company is hopeful it can service routes across the prairies seven days a week. They would leave from Vancouver to Calgary twice a day and from Winnipeg to Vancouver once a day.

Despite the fact that Greyhound has found the routes unsustainable, Uray said he thinks the big population base in the western provinces will allow the company to make a go of it.

"Western Canada has almost 10 million people living in these provinces and this service is much needed. And I think in this high a population we'll be OK having success," said Uray.

Greyhound is planning to stop driving across the Prairies in October.