Penticton council has thrown its support to bring luxury passenger transit service back to the South Okanagan for the first time since Greyhound Bus service went out of business several years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Cowan, a vocal proponent of public transportation who recently settled in Penticton, made a presentation to Penticton council Tuesday detailing his advocacy to bring passenger bus service back to this city and the entire South Okanagan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re probably sitting there looking at me wondering who is this dude that came here from Vancouver less than two years ago and he\u2019s stirring up all this trouble trying to get a bus service for Penticton,\u201d said Cowan. \u201cI\u2019ll answer that question. The reason is I\u2019ve been a transportation advocate my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He worked for more than 35 years in the railway industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt (passenger service) has always been in my blood,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was tragic when Via Rail cut service to many western Canadian cities, including Calgary and Regina, in the early 1990s, said Cowan. \u201cBut at least they had Greyhound to take up the slack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Greyhound Canada announced they were shutting down passenger bus service across the country several years ago, it was devastating news for literally millions of Canadians who used their services to travel across the province and all of Canada, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt left a lot of communities, including Penticton, with no doable bus service,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize how intense that was until I moved here in 2024 and realized that if you live in Penticton today and you don\u2019t own a vehicle, your only way to get out of there was to fly and that\u2019s not an affordable option for a lot of people in this town, as I\u2019m sure you all know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cowan said he called EBus, which provides passenger bus service to cities and towns in Alberta and BC last July, when the Coquihalla Highway was shut down for several days because of a large sinkhole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He asked what was happening with regular runs between Vancouver and Kelowna and was informed they were being detoured, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat told me right then and there that they are detouring buses through here (Penticton),\u201d he said. \u201cA week later, I called again \u2026 to ask if they could not re-route. You run two buses a day from Kelowna to Vancouver, but they both go via Merritt and could you know re-route one via Penticton so we could get service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They said, at that time, it wasn\u2019t possible as it would take more than an hour per trip for that to take place, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe said it would mess up their Kelowna to Kamloops schedule,\u201d he said. \u201cI said you could re-adjust that. We did that on the railroad all the time. The point of the matter is, the folks of Penticton have had no decent bus service now for eight years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The need for passenger bus service from Penticton to Vancouver remains overwhelming as he\u2019s read hundreds of posts each month on social media for residents looking for transportation to the Lower Mainland, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t think that\u2019s acceptable,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a result, I got on this venture to get this bus to come here. I\u2019m not one to give up easy. When people say no to me, I don\u2019t do well and it just emboldens me to want to go even further.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regional media, including CBC radio, have promoted his efforts to bring EBus service to Penticton on numerous occasions in the past couple of months, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s challenged EBus senior management to come to Penticton and meet with members of council to explain why the company has so far refused to provide service to this community, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to work together in concert to make this happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s personally spoken to a high-ranking senior manager with EBus and has been assured they are interested in bringing their services to Penticton, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe does want to make this work if we can,\u201d he said. \u201cWe really need to have this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Council with the village of Keremeos are also on board and recently forwarded a letter of support for this service, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He then asked Penticton council for a letter of support, which he will forward to EBus management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey are a private company and they obviously want to make money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s not asking for EBus to provide a new service, but simply to re-route the existing Kelowna to Vancouver service, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve talked to a lot of your constituents and they want this service and I think we need to do our best to try and get that for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has started an online petition that already has more than 1,500 signatures, a written petition with more than 200 signatures and a third supported by local MP Helena Konanz, who will voice her support for this service in the House of Commons, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe wants to get it on the public record in Ottawa that we need this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His recommended passenger pickup and dropoff location would be Penticton Airport, said Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m very passionate about this and I really do want this to work for the folks of Penticton,\u201d he said. \u201cThey really need this. They really do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mayor Julius Bloomfield thanked Cowan for all his hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is admirable the amount of ground you\u2019ve already covered on this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is difficult when trying to entice private businesses to come to Penticton. It\u2019s always difficult when people think that we\u2019re trying to subsidize a private business, which is not the case here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cowan said he\u2019s in favour of improving regional service offered by BC Transit between Penticton and the South Okanagan to West Kelowna and Kelowna. However, that service doesn\u2019t eliminate the need for long-distance passenger service from this region to the Lower Mainland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EBus service also offers 52-seat luxury service with seatbelts and washrooms, which BC transit buses don\u2019t offer, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coun. Ryan Graham thanked Cowan for all his hard work, adding he\u2019s confident all communities across the South Okanagan would support his initiative to bring EBus service to Penticton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later in the meeting, council unanimously supported a motion by Graham to support Cowan\u2019s initiative to bring EBus service to Penticton as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m under no illusions this is going to happen tomorrow,\u201d he said. \u201cAll I\u2019m asking from EBus through our city and super consultant, Mr. Cowan, is that it\u2019s time to connect the South Okanagan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Penticton was left without a passenger bus service to the Lower Mainland when Greyhound shut down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":635,"featured_media":5642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1285,492,493],"tags":[],"region":[206,207,208,209],"class_list":["post-5641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/5641\/penticton-council-throws-support-behind-mission-to-get-ebus-service\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Penticton council throws support behind mission to get Ebus service","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/5641\/penticton-council-throws-support-behind-mission-to-get-ebus-service\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/5641\/penticton-council-throws-support-behind-mission-to-get-ebus-service\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-341125918565ffd2e10e9eb4d0c218aed94b25a41dfa474f4b6639d06ab2703f.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-341125918565ffd2e10e9eb4d0c218aed94b25a41dfa474f4b6639d06ab2703f.jpg"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Keith Lacey"}],"creator":["Keith Lacey"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwheels","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-04-27T01:00:00Z","datePublished":"2026-04-27T01:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-04-27T01:00:19Z"},"rendered":"