New bus service to connect five northern Manitoba communities, Winnipeg this spring
Northern Manitoba will soon be getting a new bus service connecting Flin Flon, The Pas, Swan River, Dauphin, and Portage la Prairie to Winnipeg.
NCN Thompson Bus Lines announced the route Monday at its new depot in The Pas. The new line expands service from existing bus services between Thompson and Winnipeg, and Thompson and Split Lake.
"A huge win for the community. You know, we don't have a lot of big announcements. A lot of .. new growth and new projects happening in the North," Dan Quesnel, president of the The Pas-OCN Chamber of Commerce, told CBC News.
Previous bus service connecting the communities to Winnipeg folded in September 2024. Since then, residents without vehicles have been scrambling to find rides, or have had to rely on the train.
The loss of the last bus service left residents disconnected from the rest of the province, Quesnel said.
Quesnel said this service will "provide that transportation reconnect with the rest of northern Manitoba as well as give us a good, safe, reliable transportation provider to, you know, get down to Winnipeg."
The new service will operate seven days a week, with a daytime freight run and an overnight passenger run. Service is expected to begin in April 2025.
Quesnel said people travelling for medical services in Winnipeg had few alternatives because there are few medical services in northern communities.
"We see them being reduced all the time. A lot of people more and more often are relying on medical services from Winnipeg," he said.
After losing the bus service in 2024, there was limited transportation in The Pas, said Jonathan Lalonde, Economic Development Officer for The Pas Community Development Corporation, adding that the new service will improve the local economy.
"That is a big boost for us and our economy as there is a big need for passenger service and freight and there's a demand for it," he said.
For NCN Thompson Bus Lines, a company owned by the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, the expansion is an opportunity to create jobs and more revenue for the First Nation.
"We had one employee and one bus six and a half years ago today. Now we have 12 buses, 27 employees and now we have a building here in The Pas and 10 more jobs created," said Jimmy Pelk, co-founder of the company.
Pelk said he wants a service for northerners by northerners, and that he's ready to expand further if the demand presents itself.
For Ed Vystrcil, CEO of Nelson House Development Corporation, the parent company of NCN Thompson Bus Lines, the expansion is a chance for First Nations to reap the benefits of economic development.
Indigenous-owned companies need to support each other, and help each other grow, he said.
"As First Nations, we've sat in silence for too long watching economic development happen in our respective territories. And this is an opportune time to celebrate, embrace economic reconciliation for all people of Northern Manitoba as we continue to grow economically," Vystrcil said.
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