A bus to St. Thomas, finally

On Saturday, June 15, I took a trip that was not possible for over a decade: I went to St. Thomas, Ontario, without a car. This was possible because of one of several new intercity transit links that opened this year in Ontario, and I have updated my interactive map accordingly.

St. Thomas, with a population of 42,000, found itself cutoff from the rest of Ontario when Greyhound abandoned its London-St. Thomas-Simcoe-Niagara Falls route nearly two decades ago. A London-based cab, shuttle, and coach company Abouttown filled the gap between London, St. Thomas, and Port Stanley, before that company went bankrupt in 2013. Though there was much talk about restoring transit service in St. Thomas and in London, a short drive away, but there was little action until Middlesex County Connect, an inter-community service already connecting London and Woodstock with Lucan and Dorchester, stepped in.

The first Middlesex County Connect bus to St. Thomas began operating on April 8, 2024, providing service between Dorchester, London’s White Oaks Mall, and St. Thomas six days a week. There are four round trips: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. On weekdays, the schedule allows for commuters to and from London, as well as students heading to post-secondary institutions in London. The Saturday schedule begins later in the morning (which allowed me to get into London in time to get the second southbound trip).

On my Saturday trip, the service was well used, at least as far as many of these inter-community bus services are concerned. There were eight paying passengers on the 10:50 AM southbound trip from White Oaks to St. Thomas; five passengers headed back to London on the return trip. When I returned to London at 4:10 PM, there were four other passengers. All Middlesex buses in regular service also have bike racks.

It is welcome, yet odd, that Middlesex County Connect operates this new service, as St. Thomas is located in Elgin County. It is unfortunate that a local solution, perhaps also serving the Town of Aylmer and the community of Port Stanley, could not be found.

St. Thomas bills itself as the Railway Capital of Canada; the local bus service has recently been rebranded as Local Motion – Railway City Transit. The claim to fame is not without merit, as in the late 1800s and throughout much of the 1900s, St. Thomas was a very busy rail hub. The Canadian Southern (CASO) Railway, a shortcut between Buffalo, Detroit, and Chicago, established its headquarters and shops in St. Thomas.

CASO was joined by the London & Port Stanley Railway (a steam railway opened in 1856 that electrified in 1914), the Credit Valley Railway (later Canadian Pacific), the Great Western Railway (later Grand Trunk and CN), the Wabash Railroad (in partnership with GT and later CN), the Pere Marquette (which became part of the Chesapeake & Ohio). There was also the short-lived London and Lake Erie Railway and a local street railway in St. Thomas. In the early 1900s, more railways had track serving St. Thomas than anywhere else in Canada, and the Canada Southern Station was one of the busiest in the country, with New York Central (the successor of CASO), Canadian Pacific and L&PS trains calling regularly. The last train serving the gigantic station was Amtrak’s New York-Detroit “Niagara Rainbow,” which ceased in 1979.

Despite the once-busy activity, there are very few trains serving St. Thomas these days. Conrail sold the CASO line to CN and CP in the 1980s, which allowed the two railways to consolidate their operations in Windsor and Niagara Region. Eventually the two-track railway was abandoned, with only a few sections still in place near the Niagara and Detroit Rivers. CN and CP operations were reduced to way-freight service from London (via the old LP&S) and Woodstock respectively, though a new auto battery plant will see freight service bounce back.

The old Canada Southern locomotive shops survived, however; it is home to the Elgin County Railway Museum, which has preserved locomotives and LP&S rolling stock preserved and on display.

Though most of the CASO track was pulled up, the bridge over Kettle Creek was preserved in place and transformed into a beautiful public space called the St. Thomas Elevated Park.

St. Thomas has other beautiful architecture to explore, including the Elgin County Courthouse and its City Hall, and its long downtown commercial strip hosts several good restaurants, bakeries, and cafes.

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My Ontario Intercity Transport Map has been updated for June 2024. Among the changes include the new Flixbus service between Toronto, Barrie, Collingwood, and Owen Sound. That route operates daily except Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There are also changes to other Flixbus and Megabus routes.

I will follow up with an updated Canada map shortly.