New Transit Service Rolls Out in Vegreville

New Transit Service Rolls Out in Vegreville

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent Vegreville has a new transit service. Veg/Yeg Transportation is now operating six days a week, Monday to Saturday with non-stop service from Vegreville to Edmonton.

Currently, the bus service has one schedule with a 5:40 am departure from Vegreville and a 4 pm departure from Edmonton. The pick up point in Vegreville is at Vegreville Pizza and the drop off points are at Canada Place and the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

“We already have 10 people signed up for monthly rates in the first month. We will be looking for a few more monthly passengers and will leave the other seats open for dailyone way commuters,” stated owner Paul Rehill.

The bus service began on February 3, and Rehill said public response has been “pretty awesome” to date. He pointed out the bus can carry 20 passengers and accommodate people with walkers.

Rehill purchased a brandnew bus from 2019 to provide this service because he said he wanted to give people the feeling of security that a brand-new bus would offer. “I decided to offer this public bus service because I wanted to be able to connect smaller communities to a bigger community. It feels like ever since the Greyhound buses left, there is no means of public transportation. This bus provides convenient travel times and convenient stopping locations. Also, if people are looking for a job now, they can find one in Edmonton and commute because the bus arrives early in Edmonton and it goes back from the time after they finish work to Vegreville.

Another thing that stands out for this bus is it is meant for the Vegreville area, and it goes non-stop straight from Vegreville to Edmonton without any stops in between. This bus is a convenient thing for Vegreville and the surrounding communities. We are providing this because I see many people selling houses and moving to Edmonton. This bus service gives people an opportunity to stay in a smaller community and bring up their families in a nicer and safer area and still be able to work in Edmonton.

Also, the houses in Vegreville are a lot cheaper to buy than the houses are in Edmonton. Actually, if you lived in a bigger community, the average commute to work is usually a hour or a hour and a half and we don’t have much traffic to go from Vegreville to Edmonton so the time it will take to go on this bus from Vegreville to Edmonton is the average commute for most people who live in big cities,” said Rehill.

He added that: “This bus service makes it easier for seniors and people on fixed income or people who have no means of transportation who can’t afford to have taxi service to get that specialist appointment because this is an extra means of transportation where a person can save money.”

Paul lives in Edmonton now but he is familiar with Vegreville as he used to live in Vegreville and he still owns two houses in Vegreville. He is married with two children.