Falcon Transportation is renewing transit services between Okotoks and Calgary. The transportation company temporarily suspended operations a few months ago due to low ridership, but will reopen following the announcement of On-It transit discontinuing service.
Merc Dogan, co-owner of Falcon, said the 14-passenger service will resume daily transportation on May 1.
“We have a couple customers who already bought tickets for a whole month,” Dogan said.
Filling the gap
Dogan is originally from Turkey while his business partner is from Ukraine. He said transportation between cities in both countries is far more accessible, with reliable daily commuter services.
“You can have easy access to the major cities without any problem,” he said.
They identified that the Okotoks and Cochrane communities could benefit from a daily transit service. However, after running the service for about six months, they temporarily shut down due to low demand.
With the incoming gap left by the discontinuation of On-It’s daily service, Dogan said they want to try running the route again.
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“We already tried once. We know the process, the route,” he said.
Having suspended the service once before, he is concerned the route might not take off. However, he said the community is reaching out and showing them that the service is needed.
Between Okotoks, Cochrane, and Calgary, Falcon plans to run nine trips in total. Departure times from Okotoks will be at 6:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 5:30 p.m. Return trips will leave Calgary at 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
“For us to increase the service, we need to see they really want to use our service,” Dogan said.
Tickets for the month of May are now available online with a limited-time promotion.
