THUNDER BAY -- The city’s transit and fleet service is thinking of leaving historical trolley buses out in the cold.
Administration presented a report to council with the recommendation of merging the services of HAGI with the city’s fleet. But the additional buses that come with that move means transit needs more space.
To make some room,administration recommended the Brill buses being stored at the Fort William Road garage be moved outside as well as relocating seasonal equipment.
But that recommendation didn’t sit well with council as some councillors jumped to the defence of the old buses, saying they should be in a museum.
McKellar Coun. Paul Pugh said it was insulting to entertain the idea of putting the buses outside and they should look for ways to keep them indoors.
At-Large Coun. Larry Hebert agreed and suggested the city look at creating a transportation museum.
“The Brill buses are kind of historical,” Hebert said.
“They were refurbished by a lot of volunteer hours. I would be concerned about them being stored outside. It has nothing to do with this report but I think we need to be talking to people like Bombardier and perhaps the shipyards and developing a transportation museum."
Mayor Keith Hobbs said he met with City Manager Tim Commisso about the buses and added that they gave the transit union $12,000 to purchase the buses.
“They are in beautiful shape,” he said. “I don’t think they should be stored outside.”
In 1945, the Canadian Car and Foundry made a deal with ACF Brills to build lite weight buses. It was the first post-war contract for the company, which at the time was busy making planes for the military.
The then City of Port Arthur made the first order for buses and over the years the business grew to become internationally well known. By the time the last bus rolled off the assembly line in 1959, Brills manufactured more than 4,000 buses in a variety of models from gas to electric.
The city’s fleet manager Jim Suffak said they paid $12,000 to transport the historical buses from Vancouver. Those buses in the garage are the same model as the ones that were in Thunder Bay in the 1940s, he said.
It took an additional $25,000 as well as some volunteer hours to restore the buses. He said the buses have been in the garage since 2001 and have come out for ceremonial purposes over the years.
He said if they were to put them outside they would put a canopy over them to protect them from the weather but that wouldn’t be a permanent solution.
“A permanent location would have to be a secure location that has a barrier to protect it from graffiti or damage,” Suffak said.
“We had some ideas back in 2003. One of the ideas was the marina but the Marina Park development has taken a different turn and is no longer available.”
He said they will present council with an additional report next month with possible ideas on where to store the buses.
