Thompson halting bus service temporarily starting Nov. 1

People in Thompson, Man. who rely on buses to get around will have to find another way after transit service halts for at least a few weeks on Nov. 1.

The City of Thompson has been looking for new service providers to replace Greyhound, whose contract expires Oct. 31. A request for proposals had a deadline of Oct. 17, but the previous city council didn't get a chance to vote on the proposals before the civic election, and the new council won't have its first meeting until Nov. 13.

"There were a lot of details in the proposals that we felt needed to be clarified, and all of those things really demanded extra time and we didn't' feel that would be responsible to rush an agreement," said communications officer Kacper Antoszewski.

The city set up an ad-hoc committee to review the proposals. The committee reviewed two proposals, but after reviewing them, it decided that it needed to clarify some information before entering into a long-term contract and made the decision to suspend service temporarily.

"Transit is an important service for many residents in Thompson, and we didn't make this decision lightly," said committee chair Duncan Wong in a press release on Oct. 26. "Still, the committee believes that this decision is necessary to ensure the long-term success of transit service in the City of Thompson."

The city wanted potential service providers to come up with a couple options for providing the service, Antoszewski said.

I'm really concerned about some people's state of mind afterwards- BobbiMontean

Alternative transportation options are limited in the northern city. Cabs can be expensive, leaving people with the choice of asking friends and family for rides, or simply walking.

Longtime Thompson resident Bobbi Montean relies on the bus service to get to medical appointments, buy groceries, and visit with friends.

"It's going to be a disruption, that's for sure," she said.

As a person on a fixed income, she says she can't afford to pay for cabs or cover gas costs for friends to drive her around.

"I'm already begging for rides and there's only so much that friends and family can provide service, you know, provide the rides," she said.

Montean uses the bus at least two or three times a week, and sometimes more if she has medical appointments, which can take up to four hours. She says friends don't usually have that much time to commit.

Beyond the practical inconvenience of needing to find alternative arrangements to run errands, Montean worries about the impact of social isolation on people who can't get out of the house to visit friends.

"I'm also concerned because a lot of us use it to get out and socialize, to get out and go for a cup of coffee with a friend in the mall or something like that and that's going to be taken away. I'm really concerned about some people's state of mind afterwards," she said.

Antoszewski called the decision to suspend transit service "regrettable", but said it was necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of the service.

"We understand how important the service is, but if we don't get this right the first time, we could be facing another interruption later in the summer or worse," he said.

University College of the North spokesperson Jim Scott says the school is aware of the transit disruption, and said the city told them it would be for the month of November only. As for how students will get to class, the school is not making any alternative arrangements for them, he said.

"Students will need to sort out their transportation issues for that time frame," he said in an email statement.

Thompson Mayor-elect Colleen Smookpreviously sat as a councillor. She says she wasn't on the ad-hoc committee that made the decision to halt service, but she says the issue will be one of the first orders of business when she is sworn in on Nov. 7.

"The bus service is very important to us, but then again, we have to make sure we have the right thing in place," she said in an interview on CBC Manitoba's Thompson radio show North Country.