Ontario Northland adds more bus routes

Two years after making cuts to bus service in northern Ontario, the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission will be adding more routes to its schedule.

Destinations in the province'snorthwest will be getting the bulk of the new routes, but Hearst and Hornepayne also return to the bus schedule.

Service along the bus line was cut in 2015, taking Hearst, Kapuskasing, Cochrane, Timmins and Iroquois Falls off the route. The reason was low ridership, the ONTC said.

In 2016, ONTCannounced routesbetween Ottawa and Sudbury after Greyhound cut its service along the Highway 17 corridor by half.

In a release this morning, the province said that "return service will be offered five days a week between all communities serviced by the ONTC or private carriers."

"Ridership will be monitored regularly to ensure customer demand is met and service is expanded as needed."

In 2016-17, 243,482 passengers used ONTC bus services, the province said.