I was debating between Greyhound and Red Arrow (I haven't used either before) for my recent Calgary-Edmonton trip, when a coworker suggested I look into ebus. He said they are Red Arrow's little sister company - this north office says Red Arrow on the front - and that his former coworker used to take it all the time and said it was basically like Red Arrow, but without cookies or tea. I noticed also that seats are first come-first served, and since this is the second stop in Calgary, I didn't have any luck getting a window seat. There did seem to be one window seat at the front, but I read online that the first couple of rows are priority seating for the elderly and disabled, so I thought it would be rude for me to take one of those just because I wanted a window! I thought there was a reasonable amount of leg space otherwise. Seat backs recline a bit too. Everyone on the bus was so polite and quiet; it made for a great trip! There is wifi on these buses though it was spotty on this bus, so I just used my usual data plan.
Note that this north office seemed kind of in the middle of nowhere. There isn't a convenient restaurant or corner store across the street. However, there is a vending machine inside (junk food and soda), but when you check in with the person at the front (they like you to do that even if you have already purchased your ticket online), they actually sell bottled water for $1 so that was a nice surprise.
Prices are a little more than Greyhound, but a lot cheaper than Red Arrow. The Edmonton downtown location is just north of 100 Ave on 104 St, which is significantly less sketchy than the Greyhound depot, and for this I was thankful :) I think my bus was going reasonably fast - even with a 15-minute stop in Red Deer, we arrived almost half an hour earlier than the anticipated time. I had a great experience with ebus and I would definitely use them again! read more