When John Samuel immigrated to Canada from Spain in 2010, he relished the opportunity to leave his corporate career and pursue his passion: working in the transportation industry.
He first drove for bus companies throughout the Greater Toronto Area, before opening a limo and charter bus business with his brother in 2019. The company, called OnexBus, provides bus service between cities in southwestern Ontario.
Last month, it began running buses between London, Stratford and Toronto.
Samuel — a self-described “bus guy” — gushes with enthusiasm for the bus business. “The bus is my baby,” he said. This is his dream job.
But for passengers, a lack of intercity bus service in Canada is a nightmare — and one that is unlikely to end soon.
In 2021, Greyhound exited Canada, citing decreasing passenger numbers. It had already pulled out of the Western provinces in 2018. Its departure means there are no bus routes connecting many municipalities across Canada. While Via Rail provides some service, its trains are often behind schedule, as Canadian Affairs recently reported.
Greyhound is not the only bus operator to cease Canadian operations. There were more than one thousand bus companies in Canada before the pandemic, according to the May 2023 report from the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. These companies collectively generated more than $20 billion in revenue and provided the equivalent of 118,000 full-time jobs.
But hundreds of bus companies have shuttered since 2020, unable to recover after ridership tanked during the pandemic. Many routes have been canceled altogether.
For many Canadians, these closures are a serious problem. “Canadians rely on intercity buses for a variety of reasons, from shopping to critical medical appointments, education, employment, or to escape domestic violence,” the committee’s report says. “A loss of connectivity is disproportionately felt by members of marginalized communities.”
The report specifically highlights the importance of intercity buses for Indigenous people in remote communities, particularly women and girls. In 2019, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls called on all governments to ensure there is adequate bus service across Canada.
“Wherever there is a major highway in Canada we should be able to safely take a bus on the highway,” said Terence Johnson, president of Transport Action Canada, an advocacy and research organization. “We shouldn’t have to stand by the side of it with a thumb out.”
It is also important, Johnson said, that people with disabilities be able to travel on buses, and not be stuck waiting for a vehicle that is accessible.
‘Just nothing left’
Bus companies are regulated by the provinces and territories. Their schedules do not necessarily align with each other, or with Via Rail’s, making it difficult for passengers to easily book trips that require transportation from different companies.
Until recently, it was difficult to even find a map that outlined available transit options.
In 2022, Infrastructure Canada hired Sean Marshall, a Toronto-based geographer, to create a map of all the transit systems in Canada. Marshall published a version of the map to his personal website in December.
“It was eye-opening,” said Marshall, who had on his own made a similar map of Ontario years ago. “There’s just nothing left in so many communities.”
Marshall’s map includes information about bus, train and ferry services that run between municipalities. (The map also shows which municipalities have their own local transit systems, but it does not show the local routes.)
In some areas, there are few routes to show — if any.
While some Southwestern Ontario cities lack intercity bus transit, the absence is particularly noticeable in Western Canada, says Marshall. Between Calgary, Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw and Regina, there is “absolutely nothing,” he said.
“It’s an equity issue,” Marshall said. Intercity buses connect people to jobs or healthcare. They can also help reduce social isolation, he said.
No unified network
Solving the problem is not going to be easy. In its May report, the committee studying the issue made seven recommendations to the federal government.
One recommendation calls on Ottawa to work with all levels of government, including Indigenous communities, and public and private bus companies to “encourage the coordination of intercity bus routes with passenger rail and air travel.”
Yet, in its public response to the report, the federal government repeated that provincial and territorial governments are responsible for licensing bus companies, while noting that it was open to collaboration. Ottawa offers funding for local public transit projects in rural communities across Canada through the Rural Transit Solutions Fund.
However, the fund is not meant for intercity projects. “It is not designed to support long-distance, inter-regional travel routes that connect cities across regions, provinces, and territories,” the government’s website says.
Some bus operators say strong regional bus companies provide the best solution.
“The biggest problem in the industry today is it’s fragmented,” said Mike Cassidy, the president of Coach Atlantic Maritime Bus. The company runs buses throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. “You don’t have a unified bus network across this country.”
Cassidy, who entered the bus business in 2005, says regional bus companies need to work together so passengers can easily travel on different carriers and move across the country. But there are not many strong regional bus companies, he said.
Not all of his routes turn a profit, but profits do not motivate him, he says.
“Our value system is to make sure everybody gets served,” he said. His company also provides same-day delivery, transporting everything from donated blood from blood clinics to misplaced laptops and hockey equipment. “We take the good with the bad, and we hope there’s more good than bad,” he said.
Back in Ontario, Samuel eyes expansion. His company operates 18 buses, of various sizes, and more than 40 employees. He is exploring opportunities throughout the Greater Toronto Area, and hopefully into northern Ontario.
“I look for small communities that really need the service,” he said.
If current trends are any indication, his options are plentiful.
