Service cutbacks by Greyhound Canada in northwestern Ontario have opened up an opportunity for a a new bus company in Thunder Bay.
Last July, Kasper Transportation began offering a luxurious mini-bus service for average Joe prices to small communities along the TransCanada Highway.
The company does a daily Monday to Friday passenger pickup and parcel delivery run between Thunder Bay and Sioux Lookout, with stops in Ignace and Upsala.
With Greyhound cutting service by 50 per cent between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg, Kasper received licensed approval from the Ontario Highway Transportation Board (OHTB) to provide their service by incorporating the two stops Greyhound had abandoned.
The company, owned by Thunder Bay businessman Kasper Wabinski, purchased the route from North Country Travel, who had been running the route with a cargo van.
“It was a service in need of an upgrade,” said general manager Kristian Kuznak. “It was a pretty big shock to people when we pulled up to Sioux Lookout with our vehicle.”
Rather than run 50-seat full-size buses, they operate two brand-new 16-seat Mercedes Sprinters.
“It’s way more economical with the number of seats we have,” said Kuznak, who categories their daily ridership as between 60 and 80 per cent.
The fare from Thunder Bay to Upsala is $45, to Ignace is $65, and at the final stop in Sioux Lookout is $85. The bus departs Thunder Bay at 9 a.m., arriving in Sioux Lookout at 1:30 p.m. Central Time, and returning back to the city by 7:40 p.m.
Special effort was made to improve the amenities and overall travelling experience.
“Any upgrade we could get on our buses, we got them,” Kuznak said, with leather seating, free Wi-Fi and device-charging stations at each seat, and complimentary bottled water and coffee.
The buses are outfitted with air-ride suspension and the bodies were custom-cut to accommodate panoramic windows.
The company is taking possession of a third Sprinter this fall to launch a daily Sioux Lookout-to-Dryden shuttle service to accommodate commuters and shoppers. That vehicle will be equipped with a rear-mounted wheelchair lift.
Expansion is definitely in the cards, Kuznak said, but it’s difficult in Ontario’s highly-regulated intercity bus regime that doesn’t encourage competition in rural areas.
Under the current system, new carriers to a market must apply to the transportation board and make the case that their service isn’t economically injurious an existing company on that route.
“To be honest, I want to do the whole region and solve any transportation issue,” said Kuznak.
“I would love to be able to do Thunder Bay to Winnipeg, but the way that it’s set up right now, I’d be going against Greyhound. I would apply for the route, they would oppose it, and I would have to prove to the board that my service is better or wouldn’t have any economic impact on them.”
The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) has been lobbying to provincial transportation minister Steven Del Duca about bus service cutbacks and its impact on Northerners forced to travel to larger centres for medical appointments or to regional social service agencies.
“The (ridership) numbers don’t warrant a full-size Greyhound bus,” said NOMA president and Kenora Mayor David Canfield, “but there are other providers with vans that can provide the service and cut costs down,” possibly with government subsidy assistance, the same as Toronto Transit receives.
The transportation ministry is considering modernizing the rules and regulations on intercity service and was seeking public feedback to weave into a Northern Ontario Multimodal Transportation Strategy. The commenting period ended Oct. 23.
