Starting in April, the Ontario Northland Transporation Commission is going to expand into northwestern Ontario.
It will begin by offering bus service between White River and Thunder Bay.
The announcement was made by Minister of Northern Development Greg Rickford who says “it will also fill an existing service gap by becoming the only seamless, scheduled passenger bus travel option from Thunder Bay to Ottawa.”
Ontario Northland President Corina Moore says they take their direction from the province and in the future, their service could expand further west into the region.
Moore adds work began on this expansion shortly after Greyhound decided to stop their bus route into the northwest in October of 2018.
The bus service will be available in Thunder Bay six days a week starting on April 19.
The bus will be stopping at northern education centres, hospitals and other community hubs. Lakehead University and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre will be two of those stops.
“What I would encourage people to do is follow us on social media so that you can get the latest…of when we are coming and where the stops are,” said Moore.
“We are very hopeful as Corina said,” says Rickford. This will be a complimentary service, fully integrated, that we will create an opportunity to work with services like Kasper. They do a great job of moving into towns and cities that are off the major highways. I’ve committed to transportation services like Kasper that we can partner and integrate a bus service that can get people from farther-reaching towns to the main route.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Kasper Transportation Kasper Wabinski responded to the news Wednesday.
“I have great faith in Minister Rickford and his commitment to work with us to expand services to underserviced northern communities, but I am disappointed in the Management of ONTC that has never shown the courtesy of contacting us as to how we could work together,” Wabinski said.
