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Many Ontario communities outside the GTA have been voicing concerns over the loss or decline of inter-city transportation. The mandate letters for the Minister of Transportation and the Parliamentary Assistant featured commitments on modernizing and appropriately regulating the intercity bus regime to ensure that it remains an attractive and affordable travel option for Ontarians. Ministry of Transportation staff are currently working to develop recommendations and are seeking input from stakeholders.

Ministry staff are undertaking two processes:

• A public consultation through an Environmental Registry posting (see below), to hear directly from the public about their views and experiences travelling by intercity bus, and;
• Data collection, to gather needed information about intercity bus use in Ontario, and to examine business models used in other jurisdictions and determine whether these models are applicable in Ontario.

This work will focus primarily on the needs of and convenience for the travelling public, with a view to creating a more seamless trip. Identifying current service gaps is an important element of this.

A posting to the Environmental Registry is open for submission of comments until September 25, 2015. Questions or concerns can be directed to Paul Steckham by phone at 416-585-7233 or by email at paul.steckhamontario.ca

The Parliamentary Asssitant to the Minister of Transportation is leading this process and submissions may be forwarded here:

MPP Kathryn McGarry 
Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Transportation
Ministry of Transportation
9th Floor, Ferguson Block
77 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1Z8