Greyhound Lines Inc. has contracted with Rimrock Stages to offer more departures from Bismarck.

Greyhound is re-establishing service from Seattle through to Chicago, using Montana-based Rimrock Stages Trailways buses to connect to Fargo and Billings, Mont.

Rimrock Stages picked up the bus schedule in Bismarck after Greyhound pulled out of the market in 2004; the former offered one departure a day each to Fargo and Billings.

Now, the Bismarck depot will offer two departures a day and will better match up with the Greyhound schedules, said Eric Forseth, vice president of Rimrock. Departures to Fargo will be at 3:55 p.m. and 4:10 a.m. Departures to Billings will be at 5:30 p.m. and 5:50 a.m. New times start Wednesday.

"They're finding that they need to re-establish service,"Forseth said. "Basically, what they did (after cutting North Dakota service) was take traffic that was coming across North Dakota and reroute it through the center of the country."

That took longer for passengers, Forseth said, and added more connections.

"This run, when it was set up before, was pretty successful," Forseth said.

Rimrock, which has been in business since 1972, mainly serves parts of Montana.

- Sara Kincaid and Crystal Reid