IslandLink bus company has expanded its service to northern Vancouver Island, taking its fleet past Campbell River for the first time.
“The company now has Vancouver Island covered,” owner Phillip Morgan said Friday.
Riders can catch the bus from Port Hardy at 8:30 a.m. and arrive in Victoria by mid-afternoon. The northern run from Victoria will arrive in Port Hardy by 5:30 p.m., Morgan said.
The company’s first northbound bus ran Thursday and its first southbound bus left Friday. It costs $100 to ride from one end of the island to the other.
Buses are now servicing Port Hardy, the Port Alice junction at Highway 19, Port McNeill, Woss and the Sayward junction at the highway.
Each 15-passenger bus is air-conditioned and stops are made at restrooms.
“From Victoria to Port Hardy and from Tofino to Nanaimo, we are now providing bus service from north to south and east to west on Vancouver Island,” Morgan said.
Morgan anticipates that the new service will attract Prince Rupert to Port Hardy ferry passengers, tourists and area residents.
IslandLink began in 1998 with one route from Qualicum Beach to the Departure Bay ferry terminal in Nanaimo.
Starting with one passenger vehicle on June 23, 1998, the fleet now serves about 80,000 passengers annually, Morgan said.
For more information go to islandlinkbus.com.
