The C-Line bus service will link the international airport, Nisku and Leduc to the Century Park LRT station. (CBC)Bus service to the Edmonton International Airport that was to start Monday has been delayed by an appeal Greyhound Canada filed with the province last week.

"Greyhound Canada has objected to the proposed service under provincial regulations. The company currently provides the commuter service between the same points," the company stated in an email Tuesday.

The city of Leduc and Leduc County were planning to offer morning and afternoon rush hour bus service Monday to Friday between the Century Park LRT station and the airport, with stops in Nisku and Leduc, starting Aug. 30.

According to a company spokesperson, Greyhound objects to the Leduc stop on the new route, not the stops at the airport and Nisku.

Edmonton Transit (ETS) would provide the drivers and the buses for the service, known as C-Line. In July, ETS applied for an operating authority certificate from the Alberta Motor Transport Board.

Now that Greyhound has filed an appeal, the C-Line service can't start until a hearing is held and the province makes a decision. A date has not yet been set.

Missed opportunity, official says

Leduc county manager Doug Wright said the delay is disappointing because many people were looking forward to using the service.

"It provides an opportunity for those living in Edmonton, if they're working in Nisku, Leduc or the airport, who don't have transportation, the opportunity to take public transit to get to work," he said.

The delay was also greeted with frustration by the City of Edmonton's general manager of transportation, Bob Boutilier.

"When you have something as simple as this that gets held up by some bureaucratic rumblings, it's ridiculous. It is frustrating. A lot of people have put work into it. We're ready to go," he said.

While the service was set up primarily to serve commuters to and from Leduc and Nisku, Edmonton officials are watching ridership numbers closely to make a case for expanding the service so the city would have a daily transit link to the airport.

Boutilier worries that the delay means an opportunity has been lost to get college and university students to take the buses at the start of their school year. He hopes the issue can be resolved soon in order to attract another group of potential users.

"The next wave will come when we head into winter, when people decide to park their cars and not want to come into the city," he said.

Edmonton city council rejected a proposal in June to supplement Leduc's rush hour service by offering buses all day and on the weekends.

The councillors who opposed to the motion objected to having the city fund a $982,000 subsidy when there are areas within Edmonton that are under-served by transit.