BISMARCK, N.D. - On Aug. 18, Rimrock Stages Trailways of Billings, Mont., will begin serving all North Dakota towns along Interstate 94 that have stops being abandoned by Greyhound Lines.
Initially, however, there will be only one Rimrock Stages coach in each direction and its westbound trip out of Fargo, N.D., will be overnight.
North Dakota Transportation Director Dave Sprynczynatyk announced that Rimrock will start with one bus and assess ridership patterns. "If it's warranted, they will do more," he said. Picking up a new route through North Dakota is "quite an adjustment" for a regional line like Rimrock, he added.
"The critical thing is that they're making all nine stops" that Greyhound
is dropping along I-94, noted Don Canton, spokesman for North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven.
"It's critical to North Dakota's economic well-being that we maintain I-94 bus service and connections with Minneapolis and Billings," said Gov. Hoeven.
Greyhound's big announcement in June that it was restructuring its northern and western region hit North Dakota about as hard as any state. It said it was dropping North Dakota service except for Fargo, which would become the end of the line for westbound Greyhound coaches across the northern U.S.
The new schedule looks like this: From Minneapolis, Greyhound will arrive in Fargo at 10:20 p.m. and Rimrock will depart west at 11 p.m. Previously, Greyhound had two westbound buses leaving Fargo, at 1:15 and 9:30 a.m.
Rimrock will keep stops in Valley City, Jamestown, Steele, Sterling,
Bismarck, Richardton, Dickinson, Medora and Beach. Rimrock service will continue west to Billings, Spokane and Seattle.
Eastbound, Rimrock will arrive in Fargo at 2:05 p.m. to connect with
Greyhound's eastbound bus to Minneapolis that leaves at 3:30 p.m.
Service north and south of Fargo on Interstate 29 is provided by Jefferson Lines of Minneapolis.
Tom Forseth, president of Rimrock Stages, said his company felt compelled to take over the service to protect its existing route system in Montana. "We want to do this because we think we can do it profitably," he said. "But, second, we have to do it in order to preserve our schedule base here in Montana."
Still, Forseth is gambling. "We're really going to have to scramble to make this work," he said.
Rimrock serves major Montana cities, including Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Helena, and many smaller communities in between.