VICTORIA – The B.C. government is looking for operators to take over eight bus routes that remain without service since Greyhound pulled out of the province on Oct. 31.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is taking expressions of interests in the routes until Jan. 15.

The government says it is trying to gauge interest from private sector operators, non-profit societies, community agencies, local governments, Indigenous communities or other groups that want to provide transportation services on the routes.

The eight routes are on Highway 1 from Cache Creek to Kamloops; Highway 5 from Kamloops to Valemount; highways 5 and 16 from Valemount to the B.C.-Alberta boundary; Highway 2 from Dawson Creek to the provincial boundary; Highways 3 and 6 from Salmo to Creston; Highway 3 from Cranbrook to the B.C.-Alberta boundary; Highway 7 from Fort Nelson to the B.C.-Yukon boundary; and Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton.

The government says when Greyhound withdrew service it was able to cover 83 per cent of the abandoned routes by fast-tracking applications.