THUNDER BAY – With Northwestern Ontario home to many small communities often lacking services and spaced hours apart, the province is committing to ensure those residents will be connected and able to access transportation.
The Ontario government on Friday announced two initiatives aimed to boost bus service across Northern Ontario, through collaboration between the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission and Northwestern Ontario provider Kasper Transportation to link northern communities and establishing a $40 million grant funding program.
Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle acknowledged the importance of bus travel for Northern Ontario residents who need transportation.
“There are great distances between communities and sometimes there can be just that gap between one community and another that has no service whatsoever. For people who really do have that constraint, motor coach or bus services are vital,” Gravelle said.
“There’s no question when you look at medical appointments, travel for personal reasons, sometimes the only way you can access it is through motor coach or bus service. This will change things a great deal and we’ll be seeing some real improvements in the next couple of months.”
Earlier this year the Ministry of Transportation released the 2041 Draft Multimodal Transportation Strategy for Northern Ontario, which included a direction to establish an intercommunity bus system.
In the news release issued on Friday, the province said the collaboration will benefit a number of communities including Hearst, Hornepayne, White River, Red Lake, Emo, Rainy River, Fort Frances, Atikokan and Red Rock.
Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said the ministry has received feedback on the importance for a baseline of routes to run five days per week with return service.
“We’ve heard it loud and clear that we needed to step up, both the MTO and the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines,” Del Duca said. “The fact we’ve landed in this place, I think is very good news. We’ll continue to monitor what the ridership looks like and how people are being impacted.”
The challenges of operating a transportation service across the vast region have taken their toll on a number of private sector carriers, most recently when Thunder Bay-based Caribou Coach dropped its run from Thunder Bay to Fort Frances earlier this year.
Kasper Wabinski, the chief executive officer of Kasper Transportation, said the partnership with the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission will allow the two organizations to align schedules to more easily allow travellers to get between Northeastern and Northwestern Ontario. Expanding to the east could allow communities like Manitouwadge, White River and Hearst can become stops along the network.
Wabinski said the company already connects Thunder Bay to Sioux Lookout, Sioux Lookout to Winnipeg and is looking to provide a route to hit Fort Frances, Kenora and Red Lake.
“It’s for the passengers, this whole announcement,” Wabinski said. “It will allow somebody to go from Thunder Bay to Cochrane or Cochrane to Winnipeg. It’s about having a mutual understanding of scheduling and logistical challenges to make it less painful for the travelling customer.”
The province also announced the creation of a Community Transportation Grant Program, which expands on a previous $3 million pilot program that served 22 communities. The new fund over five years will have $30 million available for municipalities with another $10 million set aside for Indigenous communities, organizations with Indigenous leadership and not-for-profits.
Coun. Iain Angus, who is the vice president of the Northern Ontario Municipal Association, said there will be consideration given to providing a transportation service in the rural area surrounding Thunder Bay.
“If you look at McIntyre and Neebing where we really don’t have quality urban transit service, that’s an opportunity,” Angus said.
“There’s a real opportunity on the outskirts of Thunder Bay to develop some kind of service so Hymers, Nolalu, Gillies, O’Connor, Kakabeka and Neebing could have some kind of service that could bring their people into the city or to connect with Kasper as it comes through on the highway.”
