The Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce and Olympus Stage Lines Ltd. have decided to reduce the number of scheduled trips to Calgary.

The Calgary Connector Service (CVTransit.ca) has operated for five months as an agreement between the Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce and Olympus Stage Lines. It was hoped that ridership would grow quickly enough for the service to be self-sustaining. However, despite positive feedback and many regular users the service has yet to pay for itself.

Due to the fact that the service provider is a for-profit business and provides transportation out-of-province the service does not qualify for any granting programs. Organizers were faced with some difficult decisions and effective immediately service will only be available every other Thursday until March 29 and then effective April 12 the service will be available every Thursday.

“Ideally we would continue the service as it was but due to the limited amount of funds and the forecasted ridership the chamber doesn’t have enough funds to subsidize the service into the summer months where the highest usage is anticipated based upon ridership numbers from August 2017,” stated Sonya Smith of Olympus Stage Lines.

“We still believe that this service is important for our community and we want to pilot the service for at least a year but we have had to subsidize the service more than we anticipated so we are eliminating the Wednesday trip as it seems to be least used and in April when the university students start to return and businesses start hiring for the busy season we are planning to offer trips to and from Calgary on Thursdays every week,” explained chamber executive director Susan Clovechok.

People wishing to take advantage of the service can obtain more information on the website at www.cvtransit.ca or call the Columbia Valley Chamber at 250-342-2844.

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