5 April 2007
Greyhound Changes Bus Service
Banff Alberta - Greyhound Canada will now drop off bus
passengers and parcels at a new location at the Banff train station after lease negotiations with Brewster Inc. completely broke down.
The bus and courier service has negotiated with Canadian Pacific Railway to use the site at the northwest entrance to town, sharing
the site with Rocky Mountaineer rail tours, beginning yesterday (Wednesday, 4 Apr 2007).
Office hours for buying tickets and parcel delivery are presently 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, although that may be modified.
Dave Hickie, director of passenger services for Greyhound's Western Canada division, said he hopes the train station will be a
permanent home.
"We're sure hoping. It's an historical location and it's a beautiful facility," he said.
Greyhound had been operating its business from the Brewster Bus Terminal since 1985; however, lengthy lease negotiations faltered and
Greyhound was to find another home by the end of February.
It is unclear what the dispute involved.
Brewster, however, gave Greyhound a 30-day interim extension until 31 Mar 2007, and then extended that even
further until 3 Apr 2007 while the bus company finalized details with CP Rail.
Had a new location not been found, Banff would have been left without passenger and courier service offered by Greyhound.
Ed Greenberg, a spokesman for CP Rail, said allowing Greyhound to use the Banff train station fits in with the company's plans to
support local transportation and the tourism industry.
In the meantime, he said, discussions on the future redevelopment of the railway lands are still underway with Parks Canada and the
Town of Banff.
Plans presented to the public in 2003 called for restaurants and retail space along with more than 120 residential housing units. The
earlier development proposal also included restoration of the historic 1910 station.
It is unclear exactly what the development proposal is at this time.
"The redevelopment project is still part of ongoing discussions and work with the Town of Banff and Parks Canada," said
Greenberg. "That's still in play for our company. It's still an ongoing proposal."
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