In the fifth year that I have been following and mapping Canada’s intercity transportation links, the network (if you could call it that) remains in flux. Spring 2026 brings several new routes, particularly in Western Canada, that restore some former Greyhound services. Unfortunately, regional and commuter services in Ontario and Alberta are coming to an end. Wednesday, April 30 was the last day for the LTW Route 42 between Leamington and Windsor. In Alberta’s On-It is winding down its commuter buses between Calgary and Cochrane and Okatoks.
However, Flixbus continues to expand, taking over more former Greyhound routes. Unlike Greyhound or most other intercity transport companies, Flixbus is not a bus company per se, as it does not own or operate the services; instead it uses smaller contracted operators while coordinating branding, schedules, and ticketing. But starting in May, it will operate three-four days a week between Calgary, Regina, and Winnipeg, with stops in cities that have long been without service, such as Moose Jaw and Swift Current. Another route will connect Calgary with Drumheller, including a stop at the famous Royal Tyrrell Museum.
Despite the recent loss of TOK’s Southampton route and last year’s cutback of Grey County’s GTR services, there is hope for new connections in Midwestern Ontario. Grey County, together with neighbouring Bruce, Dufferin, and Wellington Counties, is studying a regional system to augment and replace the limited existing services. Hopefully, it will include regular service to fast-growing Saugeen Shores, which recently lost that TOK service. In Centre Wellington, a new local service connecting Elora and Fergus will soon start operations.
One of the major issues continually faces is the lack of intramodality and useful connections. A viable passenger rail system — be it a classic corridor service such as the Quebec-Windsor VIA train or a high-speed line such as the planned ALTO project — is much more useful to many more passengers when there are easy connections at stations. Through-ticketing and schedule coordination should be implemented whenever possible. Furthermore, though the Upper Ottawa Valley (towns and cites such as Renfrew and Pembroke) has a daily Ontario Northland bus, it arrives in Ottawa late in the evening and leaves early in the morning, limiting its usefulness to areas closer to Ottawa that could benefit from a commuter connection or onward trips to Montreal, Toronto, or Kingston. Despite more gaps seemingly filled, other gaps remain.
In 1998, the new City of Toronto was created when the Progressive Conservative government led by Mike Harris forced the merger of Metropolitan Toronto and its six constituent cities and borough. Dubbed the Megacity, it was part of a new round of municipal restructurings that affected much of the province, with Hamilton and Ottawa getting the same treatment three years later. Making less news in 1998 was the abolition of Kent County and the amalgamation of all 21 of its towns, villages and townships with the City of Chatham, creating the new municipality of Chatham-Kent.
Over 25 years later, there are challenges remaining from amalgamation. The new, larger municipality must administer a large mostly rural area but where nearly half the population lives in just one urban centre. But there are benefits, such as a consolidated library system that provides rural residents with more materials and services. Importantly too, is that Chatham-Kent was one of the first municipalities to introduce a rural transit service to connect outlying communities with the city centre, expanding the reach of Chatham’s existing urban bus system.
Three Ride CK routes — A, C, and D — extend from the bus terminal in Downtown Chatham to Wallaceburg (the second-largest community in Chatham-Kent), Dresden, Blenheim, Ridgetown, and Tilbury, covering most of the former towns that made up Kent County. (A fourth route, B, was proposed to serve Thamesville and Bothwell, but has not been implemented.) There is also a seasonal summer bus that serves the lakeside communities of Erieau and Mitchell’s Bay, echoing the former Chatham, Wallaceburg, and Lake Erie electric interurban service.
Most RideCK buses — local and intercommunity — are cutaways, meaning that the passenger seating area is in a separately-built body added to a cab and truck chassis. Though these vehicles are popular for paratransit services, low-ridership rural routes, and in smaller communities like Brockville, they do not offer a particularly smooth ride. However, they are an economical option for smaller communities.
Bus stop in Wallaceburg
Each of the three intercommunity routes operate Monday through Saturday, with two morning and two evening round trips, with an additional midday run that leaves Downtown Chatham at 12:15 PM on weekdays; this additional trip was added several years after service began. There is a timed transfer to the local Chatham routes, allowing for onward connections to shopping, schools, medical services, employment, or social activities. All three rural routes also stop at the hospital in Chatham. The midday trip was added to provide an early return home for anyone taking the bus from outlying areas, such as for a medical appointment, and not then stuck waiting an entire day in Chatham.
I rode RideCK between Chatham and Wallaceburg and back in early February 2026; the midday 12:15 departure had decent ridership with six other passengers leaving the bus terminal (a seventh got on at the big box retail cluster north of Chatham’s urban area); there were five other passengers on the way back south on the first evening bus (5:45 PM leaving Chatham). Given that Chatham-Kent has maintained the service for so long is indicative of how the rural buses are seen as a necessity in the municipality. In Wallaceburg, on-demand local transit is also available, a recent improvement by the municipality.
Intercommunity routes have a flat cash fare of $5.25 (though online materials still show the older $5 fare), though transfers to local transit are provided.
Ride CK Route A between Chatham, Wallaceburg, and Dresden
Though Routes A and C are fairly direct, Route D involves a long one-way loop to serve several small communities (including Cedar Springs, Buxton, and Merlin) before continuing to the former town of Tilbury and then back to Chatham. The route passes near, but does not stop at, Pain Court, and completely misses Wheatley.
The circuitous Ride CK Route D making a one-way loop through Cedar Springs and Tilbury
Though Chatham-Kent should be commended on identifying the need for rural transit and maintaining it for over two decades, it still demonstrates the challenges and gaps of operating a municipally provided rural transit service. Ideally, Chatham-Kent would be able to partner with neighbouring Lambton and Essex Counties to provide direct service to more communities. Tilbury should be part of an east-west service between Chatham and Windsor along the Highway 2 corridor, serving towns along Lake St. Clair such as Belle River. That would open connections to the University of Windsor and the main St. Clair College campus, along with other destinations, while improving service to Tilbury.
Route D, then, could be straightened and routed to serve Wheatley, even continuing west to make a connection to Leamington (which sadly, is losing its bus service to Windsor). With good scheduling, such connections could allow passengers to continue on VIA Rail service to London and Toronto.
Ontario needs a province-wide rural transit strategy with long-term funding and strong incentives to get reluctant municipalities (such as Halidmand County) on board. Until then, it is up to each local area to determine what, if any, transit service could look like, and up to residents to demand — and make use — of these services.
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Over the last six years, Greyhound Canada disappeared after years of decline, the COVID-19 pandemic hit with travel restricted, the Ontario provincial government set up one-time funding for intercommunity transport links while deregulating the intercity coach industry, and many municipalities dipped their toes into providing rural transit services.
At the end of 2025, there was some good news to note — several rail transit lines opened in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Edmonton, while a few new rural services opened in Eastern Ontario. Unfortunately, there were also some major losses in Ontario, particularly in Grey County, Oxford County, Napanee-Deseronto, and the impending cancellation of a major route in Essex County. Unlike in Ontario, however, rural transport links remain stable in Quebec and British Columbia.
Stable funding is essential to keep these intercommunity and intercity links alive, particularly where private operators have not filled a need. For example, Flixbus recently cut back their once-a-day route from Toronto to the Lake Huron coast and will not serve rapidly-growing Saugeen Shores during the colder months. That part of Ontario is left only with a three-days-a-week TOK coach despite potential demand. A well-funded regional transport service coordinated by Grey, Bruce, and other adjacent counties could address this, but there needs to be political will to ensure stable and predictable service needed to grow ridership over the long term.
I just completed a round of edits to my intercity map, noting changes to routes, service levels, and in some cases, stop locations. A few new scheduled air shuttles in Atlantic Canada and Manitoba are included; these types of services are only mapped if they also provide non-airport service or at least connect to urban transport.
There are also more grey lines. Starting with edits in mid 2024, I have chosen to grey out abandoned routes, rather than just eliminating them. It is well worth noting where transport links have disappeared, and where replacement service might be worth planning.
Hopefully 2026 will see better service than the end of 2025.
River Route, operated by Brockville Transit, serves several communities in Eastern Ontario
A few new transit services have come online in Eastern Ontario in the last few years. In Leeds and Grenville Counties, the River Route connects Brockville with Prescott and Cardinal. North Grenville, which includes the town of Kemptville, launched an intra-municipal on-demand service earlier this year, with a new Ottawa connection that started earlier in September.
The River Route connects with Brockville Transit in a big-box retail plaza, with timed transfers with local services to the nearby hospital, VIA Rail Station, and Brockville’s beautiful downtown core. The regular River Route fare is $5, though it includes an inbound free transfer to local Brockville Transit routes (though not the other way around). I recently travelled to Brockville and Prescott to check out the service, and I found it to be well used. Hugging the St. Lawrence River and passing through several historic towns, it might be Ontario’s most scenic regional bus route.
Downtown Brockville
The small city of Pembroke restored local public transit within the municipality, a weekday-only on-demand service. Unfortunately, Pembroke is only connected to neighbouring communities by a once-a-day Ontario Northland bus that runs between Sudbury and Ottawa.
Despite these improvements, vital connections remain missing. Commuter bus services from Ottawa to neighbouring towns such as Arnprior, Almonte, Carleton Place, and Rockland have not been restored; only Kemptville, Cassleman, and Russell/Embrun, have limited weekday service again, despite the federal, provincial, and municipal governments’ push to bring civil servants back to the office up to five days a week.
In Prescott & Russell Counties, experiments with fixed-route and on-demand transit have failed, though those came at a time when COVID-19 was still declared a public health emergency. The Town of Hawkesbury, population 10,194, is the second-largest urbanized municipality in Ontario without any inter-community transport links. (The largest is Tillsonburg, which lost its connection to Woodstock earlier this year.)
I have made updates to my intercity transportation map to include these changes: I also added a missing service in the Lachute, Quebec region. If there any further changes that I have missed, please contact me.
New GO Transit bus stop on Chiefswood Road at Six Nations
As we enter Spring 2025, there are a few significant changes in Ontario’s intercity transportation services. A new daily GO Transit route will now connect Six Nations and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation with Brantford, Hamilton, and Greater Toronto. A new seasonal Waterloo-Burlington weekend express could foreshadow more direct service between Kitchener/Waterloo and Hamilton in the future. Flixbus moved its Ottawa terminal stop to the VIA Rail station, joining Ontario Northland and Orleans Express.
However, there are also some cuts, triggered by the end of the Ontario Intercommunity Transportation Grants. Grey County will terminate all GTR services with the exception of Route 1 between Dundalk, Shelburne, and Orangeville. T:GO is ending its intercommunity services outside of Tillsonburg, including routes that connect with Woodstock and London. PC Connect is cutting its rural route that serves places like Mitchell and Milverton (though routes connecting Listowel, Stratford, and St. Marys to Kitchener/Waterloo and London will continue).
Unfortunately, T:GO will end all intercommunity bus routes outside of Tillsonburg, including the link to Woodstock
Recently, I provided my expertise mapping Canada’s intercity transit links to Transport Canada, which allowed me to enhance and update the interactive map. I am also working with Transport Action Canada to support their efforts advocating improved intercity transport across the country.
As always, please contact me with feedback, corrections, or updates. It is a challenge continually maintaining a Canada-wide map given how frequently things change.
There are buses to more destinations in 2024, but a few major gaps persist
NOTE: Previous versions of the Ontario and Canada maps are retired; please see the new Canada Intercity Transport Map, launched March 30, 2025. This will now be the only interactive map that I will update.
Unfortunately, outside of Ontario, there not that many updates to make. On Vancouver Island, at least, there is now daily service all the way to Port Hardy in the north and Tofino and Ucluelet to the west, with additional runs between Comox, Nanaimo, and Victoria. There are more buses between Vancouver and Seattle; FlixBus is now operating on the busy Calgary-Edmonton and Calgary-Banff routes. There is also a new twice-weekly Edmonton-Camrose service, thanks to work by the University of Alberta’s student union; it partnered with FlixBus to provide the service.
Also new to the map is Mountain Man Mike’s bus service between Vancouver, Nelson, Kaslo BC, and Calgary, as well as Mobilité Charlevoix, a regional service that connects several towns east of Québec City including Baie-Saint-Paul, La Malbaie, and Clermont.
Unfortunately, several wide gaps remain. Despite plenty of competition on the busiest routes in Southern Ontario and Alberta, there is no bus service between Calgary and Regina, leaving cities like Medicine Hat and Moose Jaw without intercity connections, apart from airport shuttle services, despite once-frequent Greyhound service. Between Winnipeg and Regina, it is still just one bus a week. Maritime Bus, for whatever reason, still has not restored service across the New Brunswick-Québec provincial line.
Without comprehensive government-led coordination and support, these gaps are likely to remain unfilled.
Southern Ontario Transit minibus in Dunnville, October 2024
Earlier in October, I got to meet Rae Rivard, owner-operator of Southern Ontario Transit (SOT), a new intercity transit operator currently serving Hamilton and Haldimand County. The route, which launched on September 16th, offers three weekday round trips between Downtown Hamilton and Dunnville, serving the communities of Caledonia, Hagersville, and Cayuga.
Haldimand County, along with the neighbouring Six Nations and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation reserves, remained unserved by intercity or local bus services since the early 2000s; in 1990, United Trails operated a daily bus between Port Dover, Hagersville, Caledonia, and Hamilton. Cayuga and Dunnville were served by a Greyhound route on Highway 3 between Niagara and London. More recently, as Niagara Region was building a regional transit service and Norfolk County successfully applied for provincial funding for a new service between Simcoe and Brantford, Haldimand County refused to take part. Enter SOT.
SOT, which charges a $10 one-way fare, operates without the support of the municipal government, and is unable to put up bus stop signs or actively promote its service at municipal facilities such as libraries or community centres. For this reason, ridership remains low, despite growing populations in Caledonia and Hagersville and convenient links to Hamilton Airport, Mohawk College, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and to GO Transit and HSR services.
Rivard will tell you that “the primary challenge we face today is slow uptake. Due to a number of limitations and challenges currently out of our control, the number of regular and new riders trends up every week, but not as fast as we need to cover expenses…. Many of the limitations we are dealing with right now can easily be addressed at no expense, but these choices are out of our control.”
Rivard reached out to businesses and social service organizations, but was turned away, adding that “the entire operation has been entirely funded out of me and my wife’s savings, and we are really struggling to keep up with expenses at this rate.”
Without approved bus stop locations with curb access, SOT is not able to provide fully-accessible service, though it already has a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. The lack of physical bus stops and publicity has made it difficult to attract riders, though while riding with Rivard on a beautiful October afternoon, it was clear that a demand exists as several residents came up to the minibus to find out more information.
My hope is that word spreads about this unique and essential operation and that the local communities provide the needed support to make this service work. If this initial route succeeds, SOT would like to expand service in Haldimand and take on other gaps in the Ontario network.
I updated my Ontario Intercity Transport Map to add Southern Ontario Transit’s route. Commuter Connect in Northumberland County ended service not long after VIA Rail finally resumed its early morning train from Kingston to Toronto. East Zorra-Tavistock Transit in Oxford County did not last long either, and service there has ended.
Added to the map:
Southern Ontario Transit between Hamilton, Caledonia, and Dunnville
Red Arrow’s daily Toronto-Western University express, which replaces its Toronto-Niagara Falls run
A new daily Flixbus route between Toronto, Hamilton, and St. Thomas
A new OnexBus route between London, Goderich, and Port Elgin, operating Friday through Monday
OnexBus’s London-Pearson Airport-Brampton route, which operates several trips a day
Ourbus’s Toronto-Ottawa route
Kasper’s daily Winnipeg-Kenora-Sioux Lookout service
Revisions to on-demand services in Niagara Region
Some revised routings and service levels across the province
Removed from the map:
Commuter Connect in Northumberland County
East Zorra-Tavistock Transit
Kasper’s on-demand service to Red Lake/Balmerton
Though it is good to see Bruce County — particularly rapidly growing Saugeen Shores — get another link, that part of Ontario is still poorly served; there should be daily services between larger Bruce County communities like Saugeen Shores, Kincardine, and Walkerton at least to Owen Sound and Hanover. Lindsay is also left without any intercity services, after TOK ended service from Toronto to Haliburton last year. where a Peterborough-Lindsay-Pontypool service, perhaps extending to Durham College/Ontario Tech University in Oshawa could prove to be a very useful route.
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I love maps, especially physical, paper maps. I like to visualize the places I travel to and determine how each city and region’s transit networks work. Though online interactive maps can be very helpful (like the ones I created to show all intercity transport services in Ontarioand across Canada, filling a much-needed gap), there is still nothing like a well-designed static map, especially when it is in print and easily accessible to the public.
This means providing maps that accurately and clearly depict the entire transit system, along with landmarks, connections, and frequency. Los Angeles Metro’s system map does a reasonable job for a map that covers a very large region.
The Los Angeles Metro system map depicts the complex bus and rail network, including non-LA Metro agencies like Culver Citybus and Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus. Colours and line width used to denote operator, service type, and frequency.
Thankfully, most urban transit systems in North America continue to provide proper system maps both on their websites and in print, provided free on request at subway booths or terminal offices. (Some, however, have charged a small fee for a physical copy of their transit maps, such as San Francisco’s Muni.) In Europe, complete transit maps often have to be purchased, such as in Berlin or Vienna.
I recently visited two mid-sized American cities that have done away with physical maps for their transit systems: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Denver, Colorado. In those cities, figuring out how to get around by tram and bus was frustrating, even in an age of Google and Apple maps and transit planning apps accessible to anyone with a smartphone.
Pittsburgh Regional Transit (formerly known as Port Authority Transit) operates a complicated web of bus routes that radiate from the city’s downtown core, along with a few cross-town and feeder routes. There are three busways and a light rail service to the southern suburbs. However, there is no proper system map, either in print or online as PDF or image file that allows the new or casual user to make sense of the network.
The user can then select a service by route name or number in a drop-down tool, but the map itself is difficult to figure out. Zooming in reveals the location of fare vendors and park-and-ride lots, but not important service details like route numbers or service frequency.
Zooming in, park-and-ride lots become the most prominent feature
Even at the neighbourhood level the map is difficult to read. The screenshot below shows Pittsburgh’s Oakland district, home to University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, several other educational institutions, medical centres, parks, museums, and cultural venues. Many bus routes follow Forbes Avenue and Fifth Avenue, but as each route is layered on top of each other, it is difficult to discern where each route runs and where they go.
PRT’s ESRI interactive system map, zoomed into the Oakland District
Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) also uses ESRI interactive maps to show bus routes (rail services are depicted in a static image map as well). At a small scale, only the light rail and commuter/regional rail services appear, along with transit park-and-ride locations. Denver’s bus system is less complicated than Pittsburgh, operating largely on a grid, but still, a proper map would make it much easier to get a sense of the network.
Zoom in, and bus routes appear, along with route numbers, but there is nothing to show the level of service for each route.
Though online-only interactive maps have their purpose (my Ontario and Canada intercity maps are designed to show where connections exist, or not, and how to obtain schedule information), they are not well suited for urban transit systems and are very difficult to read on a mobile device. Properly designed static maps, in web image or PDF format do much better jobs.
It is worth comparing Pittsburgh and Denver to the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC). The TTC’s complete system map is provided to customers for free at subway stations, with smaller, simplified versions available as tear-away pamphlets. Large-format versions are also displayed across the network in bus shelters and subway stations. A PDF version can also be easily found on the TTC website in the main Routes and Schedules page. Surface routes are categorized by service level (express, frequent service, regular service, limited service, seasonal, and community routes) with major landmarks and transfer points to connecting services clearly indicated.
I have some minor complaints about the TTC’s map (like regular routes, express routes should be categorized in the map based on their service levels, for instance) but it is a reasonable, easy to read map that is also quite easy to find.
Unfortunately, more transit systems are moving away from easily accessible paper maps. Durham Region Transit, for example, no longer provides copies of its system map. Fortunately, a proper, well-designed PDF copy remains accessible on its website.
When travelling, or looking to understand a city’s transit network though, there is nothing quite like poring through a well-designed, easy-to-read paper map. It would be a shame if more agencies went the way of Denver and Pittsburgh.
NOTE: Previous versions of the Ontario and Canada maps are retired; please see the new Canada Intercity Transport Map, launched March 30, 2025. This will now be the only interactive map that I will update.
Since 2020, I have maintained an interactive map of bus and rail services in Ontario. Without a central repository of transit information, my maps have become one of the few comprehensive resources available. I am pleased to keep the resource going, and I appreciate the messages of support, as well as additions and corrections that you submit.
There are a few updates for April 2024:
Middlesex County Connect launched a new route between Dorchester, White Oaks Mall in London, and St. Thomas. This route operates six days a week, with four round trips Mondays through Saturdays.
A new FlixBus route, operating six days a week, now runs between Downtown Toronto, Pearson Airport, and Sudbury, competing with Ontario’s Northland bus service.
Ourbus became the latest company to operate a coach service between Toronto, Kingston, and Ottawa. There are now five coach operators competing on the same route.
Grey Transit Route announced that they will be ending weekend services on most of its routes starting May 1.
Though the gap between London and St. Thomas is now filled, there remains several other parts of the province without intercity transport links, even in Southwestern Ontario. For example, service in Huron and Bruce Counties is limited to a three day/week TOK coach service and a three day/week minibus service between Goderich and Grand Bend. There are still no links from Haldimand County and Six Nations to nearby large urban centres like Brantford, Hamilton, and Toronto.
I plan to update this Ontario map again in July. At that time, I will also update my Canada-wide transportation map to reflect changes in the intercity transport industry.
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Intercity Bus minibus on York Street at Royal York Hotel, February 13, 2024
In late 2023, yet another intercity bus operator started serving the busy Toronto-London corridor, operating between Toronto and London. With the rather unimaginative name of “Intercity Bus,” this new company operates up to four trips a day between Toronto and London. It has since added a route between London and Sarnia; it also plans to run the much-needed link between London and St. Thomas.
There are now five bus companies on the Toronto-London route: Intercity Bus, Onex Bus, Trailways, and Megabus (in a partnership with local coach operator Badder Bus). Those five companies compete with VIA Rail, which operates up to six daily trips between the two cities, with up to 28 round trips daily between them.
Onex Bus departing Downtown Toronto, photo kindly provided by Chris Whitfield
VIA Rail remains the fastest and most comfortable option, with full-service staffed stations in Downtown London and Downtown Toronto, but its fares are typically the most expensive. The private coach companies offer cheaper fares, and several of them directly serve Western University and/or Fanshawe College. Megabus has partnered with Trailways; its booking website includes both the Toronto-London-Detroit Trailways trips and the Toronto-London trips operated by Badder Bus. Otherwise, one must go to the individual companies’ websites to figure out the complete schedule and where each service stops at.
The schedule below, saved as a PDF, includes all regular weekday trips between Toronto and London along with intermediate stops.
In Toronto, Flixbus, Trailways and Megabus/Badder call at the Union Station Bus Terminal, where connections can be made to other Flixbus and Megabus services, along with GO Transit and VIA Rail in the adjacent railway hub. Onex and Intercity Bus make use of a curbside stop on York Street next to the Royal York Hotel, which is shared with the Toronto Island Airport shuttle. These three stops are all within a few minutes’ walk from each other. Some Flixbus runs to London begin and end in Scarborough, and many buses also make a stop at Pearson Airport.
In London, every bus carrier makes a curbside stop at Western University, the terminus of all bus trips from Toronto except Trailways, which continues to Windsor and Detroit. All carriers except Badder/Megabus also serve Downtown London. However, each has a different stopping location, with Flixbus and Trailways opting for a curbside stop on York Street near CitiPlaza (London’s downtown mall), and Onex utilizing the driveway at the VIA Rail station.
Curbside stops are convenient for bus operators, as they’re easy to pull up to and depart from, there’s no rent, staffing, or maintenance costs. With smartphones and online ticketing, there is no need for a ticket agent, and passengers can be notified by text and/or email of any delays or changes. But curbside stops have no shelter and no washrooms.
Interestingly, Intercity Bus has taken over the old Greyhound terminal in Downtown London. At its peak, London’s terminal had dozens of daily departures to cities and towns all over Southwestern Ontario, serving multiple carriers at a time when intercity carriers acted more like a unified network.
The old London Greyhound terminal
The terminal offers seating, washrooms, and is staffed by an agent, a rarity in the post-Greyhound world. The washrooms are especially essential if — as on my recent trip — the bus does not have an on-board lavatory. These new smaller carriers save fuel and labour costs by operating smaller vehicles and matching capacity with demand. They often operate older coaches and minibuses.
Inside the Intercity Bus terminal
I recently took Intercity Bus from Toronto to London to try out Ontario’s newest carrier. Though the 12:10 departure from Toronto was on a minibus similar to those used by rural transit operators (there were only 10 passengers on that Tuesday afternoon run), the ride was comfortable enough, with cloth bucket seats. It was a fast trip: it skipped stops in Woodstock and Fanshawe College, and the driver made very good time on Highway 401, at times exceeding the posted speed limit by 25 or 30 kilometres per hour. Even with a stop for fuel (the driver asked if it was okay), we arrived 15 minutes early at the London terminal.
At its peak in the 1980s, there were over two dozen daily departures from the London bus terminal. There were frequent Greyhound routes to Toronto via Kitchener and via Brantford and Hamilton as well as to Chatham, Windsor, and Detroit; there were also daily Greyhound routes to Niagara Falls via St. Thomas, Simcoe, and Welland and to Strathroy, Sarnia and into Michigan. Regional coach operators also ran from the Greyhound terminal to Stratford, Goderich, Rodney, Walkerton, Leamington, and Port Stanley. Today, there are just four — three to Toronto and one to Sarnia.
Detail from 1990-1991 Ontario Intercity Transportation Guide, showing bus routes from London to points throughout Southwestern Ontario
My hope for the next year is for more stability in the intercity bus industry, perhaps even mergers between some of the smaller players. Onex and Intercity Bus, which compete on the Toronto-London route and offer a similar service, could be beneficial, especially if it results in a network of routes radiating out of London, starting with Intercity Bus’s London-Sarnia service, its planned St. Thomas route, and Onex’s London-Stratford-Kitchener run.
I updated my map of Ontario’s intercity transport services for March 2024, including the new Onex Bus and Intercity Bus routes in Southwestern Ontario. There are new services in East Zorra-Tavistock, connecting to Stratford and Woodstock, and in North Grenville. Unfortunately, Lindsay and Haliburton lost their TOK coach service, Prescott & Russell ended its on-demand service, and gaps remain in Bruce, Elgin, and Haldimand Counties.
Sean Marshall 