Intercity Bus Services

[rbt]

Anyone know what the largest towns in the province are without any inter-regional transit? I know you can't get to Simcoe without a car or taxi.. are there larger centres without public access? That's the largest I can think of. Any centre of over 10,000 really should have some form of inter-regional transit, no matter how bare bones if you ask me.

That's a tough question.

Perhaps Amherstburg and Kingsville (pop ~22,000 each, though mostly rural) which are both several hours by foot to the nearest Greyound/Via station (or Windsor public transit).
They have an unscheduled door-to-door transportation option but it looks geared toward those who require additional care.

Transportation Services - South Essex Community Council

www.secc.on.ca

 

[ShonTron]

Anyone know what the largest towns in the province are without any inter-regional transit? I know you can't get to Simcoe without a car or taxi.. are there larger centres without public access? That's the largest I can think of. Any centre of over 10,000 really should have some form of inter-regional transit, no matter how bare bones if you ask me.

Really the entire Highway 3 corridor is full of half-decent sized towns with no public transit access. Does St. Thomas have some sort of bus service to London? It isn't on Reaperexpress's map.

Nope. St. Thomas is the largest urban municipality in Ontario without intercity bus or rail, though it does have a basic local transit service. The next largest communities without intercity transportation are Leamington (which also has a local bus), Tillsonburg, and Simcoe.

Despite its proximity to larger urban centres and a major freeway, Paris also doesn't have anything. Brantford Transit used to run a bus route, but it was cut when the Harris government eliminated provincial operating funding for transit.

 

[Garuda]

Nope. St. Thomas is the largest urban municipality in Ontario without intercity bus or rail, though it does have a basic local transit service. The next largest communities without intercity transportation are Leamington (which also has a local bus), Tillsonburg, and Simcoe.

Despite its proximity to larger urban centres and a major freeway, Paris also doesn't have anything. Brantford Transit used to run a bus route, but it was cut when the Harris government eliminated provincial operating funding for transit.

Given the amount of commuters between London and St. Thomas this is surprising. But also considering the car culture I'm not surprised.

St. Thomas is really depressing, the golden years are over (well hopefully they're return). The downtown streetscape architecture needs attention but the money isn't there. The good news is that the former Canada South Station has been renovated and life is coming back to the former railway yards.

Within the last year, there's been some good news with Ontario Northland expanding service and collaborating with GO (long overdue).

 

[nfitz]

Given the amount of commuters between London and St. Thomas this is surprising. But also considering the car culture I'm not surprised.

What surprises me is how much local transit St. Thomas (population over 40,000) has, without any inter-city connections.

When you look at the various St. Thomas and London rural routes, they get more than half-way between the two cities.

It's amazing that neither local government there has put in a connecting service. Perhaps there is a need for a regional-level government rather than just municipal governments.

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

Perhaps there is a need for a regional-level government rather than just municipal governments.

Someone needs to tell that to Ford's face

 

[Lernd2LuvTO]

I decided to create the 2019 intercity bus map (PDF version here):

Wow. Nicely done. Would you mind if we re-posted this (with credit and links!) to https://dudewheresmybusmap.wordpress.com/blog/?

This is really high quality. I think I always knew that (especially as compared to our "connect the dots on GoogleMaps...) but I appreciate it even more now that we're on an ebb phase of blog post production.

 

[ssiguy2]

The thing that makes the London - St.Thomas situation even worse is that the cities actually border each other. Also St.Thomas use to be a much more independent city with a large manufacturing base especially with Ford Talbotville and the railways. Now those days are over but the city continues to grow because nearly all the new residents are London commuters.

A limited bus service would work OK in the city during off-peak but a return of the London - port Stanley railroad into a viable commuter rail system would be better. The route is still in good repair and it would be MUCH faster than very congested Wellington Road route which a bus would have to take.

 

[nfitz]

The thing that makes the London - St.Thomas situation even worse is that the cities actually border each other.

They don't quite border each other. There's a narrow strip of Elgin County between St. Thomas and London.

To complicate matters, in the rearrangement they did a few years ago, they removed St. Thomas from Elgin County.

I don't know the local politics, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was part of the reason this remains unresolved for so long!

 

[reaperexpress]

Wow. Nicely done. Would you mind if we re-posted this (with credit and links!) to https://dudewheresmybusmap.wordpress.com/blog/?

This is really high quality. I think I always knew that (especially as compared to our "connect the dots on GoogleMaps...) but I appreciate it even more now that we're on an ebb phase of blog post production.

Thanks! Sure, you can repost as you please. I think you can download the pdf, if not let me know and I'll send it over some other way.

 

[muller877]

Nope. St. Thomas is the largest urban municipality in Ontario without intercity bus or rail, though it does have a basic local transit service. The next largest communities without intercity transportation are Leamington (which also has a local bus), Tillsonburg, and Simcoe.

Despite its proximity to larger urban centres and a major freeway, Paris also doesn't have anything. Brantford Transit used to run a bus route, but it was cut when the Harris government eliminated provincial operating funding for transit.

Norfolk will be running a bus to Brantford 3 times a day starting May 6. I understand it will also be going to Tillsonburg. From Brantford they have access to the GO Bus system & VIA.

News and Events - NorfolkCounty.ca - Working Together with Our Community...

So to get from Tillsonburg you will have to go from Tillsonburg-Simcoe-Brantford (not ideal). But technically connected to the intercity network.

Leamington is getting bus service to Windsor. Plus it already had the ferry which is technically intercity transit (although not connected to anything else)

Adults 80 Years and Older Can Book a Second Dose COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment

Adults 80 Years and Older Can Book a Second Dose COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment

www.leamington.ca

The Ontario gov't has been giving out these 5 years grants to allow for transit between small towns. Needed as the people in the community grow older.

 

[ShonTron]

Norfolk will be running a bus to Brantford 3 times a day starting May 6. I understand it will also be going to Tillsonburg. From Brantford they have access to the GO Bus system & VIA.

News and Events - NorfolkCounty.ca - Working Together with Our Community...

So to get from Tillsonburg you will have to go from Tillsonburg-Simcoe-Brantford (not ideal). But technically connected to the intercity network.

Leamington is getting bus service to Windsor. Plus it already had the ferry which is technically intercity transit (although not connected to anything else)

Adults 80 Years and Older Can Book a Second Dose COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment

Adults 80 Years and Older Can Book a Second Dose COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment

www.leamington.ca

The Ontario gov't has been giving out these 5 years grants to allow for transit between small towns. Needed as the people in the community grow older.

Interesting. The service operated by Norfolk County within Simcoe and to places like Port Dover and Delhi really is more a Seniorville Trolley rather than useful transit service for commuters or younger people, but once it reaches Brantford, it might become somewhat useful.

Chatham-Kent operates a rural service on three routes from Downtown Chatham, useful for shopping and appointments, on a more commuter-friendly schedule (arriving at Chatham in the morning, departing in the evening). Unfortunately, the schedules are not posted online:

CKTransit

www.chatham-kent.ca

 

[TOareaFan]

When I was at Highway 407 station last week I was totally surprised to see an Ontario Northland bus pull in and dump half a busload of passengers. Clearly my familiarity with the intercity bus network was out of date, so I decided to create the 2019 intercity bus map (PDF version here):
View attachment 176953

Looking at your map through a very local lens I am led to ask, “how does Brampton get completely left off that map?”

I don’t do a lot of intercity bus travel, so maybe service has stopped.....but I thought there were fairly significant intercity bus services available at, both, the Bramalea GO station and DT bus terminal.....maybe even the Bramalea CC bus terminal (but I am less confident on that one).

 

[ShonTron]

Looking at your map through a very local lens I am led to ask, “how does Brampton get completely left off that map?”

I don’t do a lot of intercity bus travel, so maybe service has stopped.....but I thought there were fairly significant intercity bus services available at, both, the Bramalea GO station and DT bus terminal.....maybe even the Bramalea CC bus terminal (but I am less confident on that one).

The last intercity carrier service through Brampton disappeared over a decade ago - the Greyhound run to Owen Sound via Highway 10, a remnant of the Gray Coach Lines network (I always found it weird how the TTC used the American spelling for its coach division). GO of course, provides bus service from Brampton to Orangeville, Georgetown/Guelph, North York, and Downtown Toronto (and from Bramalea to Kitchener, Hamilton, and points in York Region), but I don't see any GO bus routes included - it's the traditional intercity carriers like Greyhound, Coach Canada/Megabus, and Ontario Northland.

 

[TOareaFan]

The last intercity carrier service through Brampton disappeared over a decade ago - the Greyhound run to Owen Sound via Highway 10, a remnant of the Gray Coach Lines network (I always found it weird how the TTC used the American spelling for its coach division). GO of course, provides bus service from Brampton to Orangeville, Georgetown/Guelph, North York, and Downtown Toronto (and from Bramalea to Kitchener, Hamilton, and points in York Region), but I don't see any GO bus routes included - it's the traditional intercity carriers like Greyhound, Coach Canada/Megabus, and Ontario Northland.

My bad....apologies....with all those GO logos on the map I thought GO services were included in the maps......which leads to another question...why aren't they?

 

[APTA-2048]

My bad....apologies....with all those GO logos on the map I thought GO services were included in the maps......which leads to another question...why aren't they?

I believe the original intent of this thread was commentary on the eroding private intercity bus network. GO Transit, on the other hand, has seen great increase in service and coverage.