THUNDER BAY — Kasper Wabinski has long maintained that the federal government needs to help improve highway bus service across the country.
The owner of Thunder Bay-based Kasper Transportation is feeling more optimistic that will happen, after the release of recommendations from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.
Handed down last month, the report's first recommendation is that the government collaborate with all stakeholders, including the provinces, municipalities, and private and public bus operators to encourage the coordination of intercity bus routes with passenger rail and and air travel.
The committee is also calling on Ottawa to expand its Rural Transit Solutions Fund (RTSF) to incentivize the development of intercommunity rural routes, and to allow private carriers to access the fund.
This is something that the Coast to Coast Bus Coalition, a group of regional bus services including Kasper Transportation, has been lobbying.
Wabinski feels those efforts are starting to pay off.
"I think the bus industry is extremely happy with the outcome, with the key recommendations. Because we believe it's the most progress in the industry in decades. In this whole process we've experienced a lot of negativity, like 'you're wasting your time, this is not going to work.' It's very encouraging to see the system does work if you put your effort into it, " he told TBnewswatch. "It's slow, but it is working. We started working on this three years ago."
He was among the presenters when the all-party standing committee held a series of hearings between November 2022 and March 2023.
His company owns 16 buses and operates scheduled routes between Winnipeg and White River.
Wabinski told the committee that today's national bus network is "an embarrassment," with only a handful of operators serving separate regions with an inconsistent, localized approach.
"Half of the provinces have proven over and over again that they have little interest in this file," Wabinski said. "There's no leadership."
In an interview, he told TBnewswatch the era of provincial governments overseeing bus transportation is over.
Feds should act since buses cross provincial boundaries 'just like airlines and trains'
"We're so fragmented as a system from province to province, it's difficult to give customers an experience that they would expect from a first-world country like Canada, in comparison to the United States and Europe .... We're definitely trying to use words to encourage the federal government to take control, take ownership, take a leading role in intercity buses. They cross provincial boundaries just like pipelines, fibre optic, airlines and trains. It should be mandated federally."
He called the federal RTSF a great program that assists many municipalities and transit services, but one that excludes for-profit private operators.
"That causes a lot of challenges for us. Buses are a capital-intensive industry with small margins ...RTSF is one effective way to start the path of rebuilding a national bus network that would serve consumers safely and seamlessly."
During its hearings, the committee heard about serious impacts that the absence of intercity bus service can have, especially on marginalized communities, including loss of access to jobs, education and health services.
The committee has requested that the government table a comprehensive response to its report.
Marcus Powlowski, the Liberal MP for Thunder Bay-Rainy River, said the lack of bus service for isolated communities has been discussed frequently by the party's rural caucus, but as a political issue it has been largely flying under the radar on Parliament Hill.
"I've been advocating for more government support for intercity busing for the last number of years," he said. "I do think it's important."
He said he agrees that private operators should have access to federal funding.
"A lot of these routes are borderline profitable, so a lot of companies may not be interested in providing the routes. You may or may not make money. As a result, some routes won't perhaps be covered unless there is some sort of government support."
Powlowski said bus service benefits not just the economies of small communities, and their residents who need transportation to access important services in larger centres, but can also improve safety.
"If you live in a small town and you're in a bad relationship, and there's only one car, and you want to get away, it may be pretty difficult or not impossible if you don't have access to some sort of transportation. There's a whole bunch of reasons for the government to perhaps provide some sort of subsidy tp help marginal runs to continue."
