Transit travails

I used to travel by bus to and from Thornbury from my home in Toronto. In those days, if you didn’t own a car, travel between Southern Georgian Bay (SGB) and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) was relatively simple. Greyhound Canada operated their twice daily (and later only once daily) never-on-time buses from downtown Toronto to Owen Sound and back again, with stops in Barrie, Wasaga Beach, Blue Mountain, Thornbury, Meaford and other points along the way.

Once you got a seat on the bus you could stay on board from end to end. No angst about matching different bus schedules, transferring or making connections. The bus would occasionally be full or overflowing for the Toronto-to-Barrie leg, necessitating a second bus to accommodate all the passengers. But from Barrie onward, the bus would empty, prompting one to wonder how Greyhound was making any money at all on this route—a sign of what was to come.

The official Greyhound stop in Thornbury was Penny’s Motel on Highway 26. Quite often, instead of turning left into the motel grounds (and then having to exit with another left turn into busy traffic), the bus driver would stop across the highway, unceremoniously depositing me and my bags in what was essentially the ditch, even in the rain or snow. I remember laughing at the absurdity, until I had to dodge speeding cars and trucks as I tried to reach my friend waiting in the motel parking lot. But that was as difficult as the trip got.

Nowadays things are not so simple. Greyhound Canada suspended the Toronto-Owen Sound route in May 2020, and then permanently terminated all of its operations in Ontario and Quebec in May 2021, citing declining ridership, deregulation, subsidized competition and, the final nail in the coffin, pandemic travel restrictions. Greyhound no longer operates in any part of Canada. No similar carrier serving the region has taken its place.

But there is good news. As I recently discovered, the trip from Toronto to SGB is still doable. It just takes a little patience and planning, and punctually transferring from one transit system to another, while negotiating their differing schedules, rules and payment systems. Travel takes more effort and time than it used to in the Greyhound days—but some new changes are making things better.

There are now two relatively new county transit systems in Southern Georgian Bay, which straddles Simcoe and Grey counties. Prior to the creation of these regional transit systems, there was nothing. People relied on cars. Simcoe County’s LINX transit system for the Barrie-Wasaga Beach route started up in 2019, and in that year the county also took over the Wasaga Beach-Collingwood route that had been jointly run by the two towns.

Grey County’s Grey Transit Route (GTR) began operations in September 2020. Added to the mix are municipal transit systems, such as those for Wasaga Beach and Collingwood. And then there is the interregional GO Transit, run by the Government of Ontario through Metrolinx.

Although each jurisdiction governs its own public transportation system, there is a willingness to coordinate schedules for the convenience of customers.

“Both Simcoe and Grey are brand new systems,” says Dennis Childs, Transit Manager for Simcoe County’s LINX Transit. “I think it’s really important to note that we are working collaboratively and trying to coordinate. But it is slow. The pandemic hurt all of us—reduced ridership by 70 percent, slowed down growth.” He says the county is working with Metrolinx to develop an app that will allow travellers to plot and coordinate their trips across jurisdictions with ease.

“We do line up our bus schedule with Collingwood’s transit system, Colltrans, and it works seamlessly,” says Stephanie Stewart, Manager of Community Transportation, Grey County. In fact, Colltrans is the glue that binds Grey’s GRT with Simcoe’s LINX. If travelling eastward with GRT, you arrive in Blue Mountain where you can pick up a Colltrans bus to downtown Collingwood and from there grab a LINX bus to take you further eastward. “There is demand for a GRT bus to Collingwood because people don’t like having to transfer in Blue Mountain, but it’s not cost-effective for us to duplicate the Colltrans run to and from Blue Mountain,” says Stewart.

Both Childs and Stewart see increasing demand for public transit in the region and are planning accordingly. Following the serious damage that the pandemic wrought on their numbers, both transit managers have registered increased ridership this year, due to waning pandemic fear of public travel, growing awareness of the service, improved schedules—and the dramatic price increases for gasoline.

Bus fare on GRT from Owen Sound to Blue Mountain is $5. On LINX, you’ll pay $2 for a trip from Collingwood to Wasaga Beach, and $6 from there to Barrie. A ride on a Colltrans bus will cost you $2.

Worry about multi-jurisdictional travel that entails wrestling with different schedules may be overblown, given that most GRT and LINX transit riders are local or regional residents, often travelling just within one county from one community to another for jobs, education, doctor appointments and outings. Apparently, there is a negligible amount of ridership into the Southern Georgian Bay region from the GTA or vice versa.

Still, I was curious what my old Greyhound trip from Toronto would look like today, when you have to negotiate five different public systems.

Hypothetically, let’s imagine you’re a Torontonian yearning to join friends for an evening performance in the venerable

Meaford Hall Arts & Cultural Centre. You would start by taking the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) subway to Union Station and board a weekday 9:53 a.m. GO Transit train to Barrie. (GO runs the direct train from Union Station to Barrie’s Allandale Waterfront GO station eight times on weekdays and five times on Saturdays and Sundays.)

If all goes well, you’ll arrive at the Barrie GO station at 11:35 a.m., five minutes after the 11:30 a.m. Simcoe County LINX bus has left for Wasaga Beach. The LINX buses run hourly, so you’ll have to grab a coffee, read your book and climb aboard the 12:30 p.m. bus. (Note you can’t do this on a weekend—the LINX buses to Wasaga Beach don’t run on Saturdays, Sundays or statutory holidays.)

You’ll next be rolling through beautiful countryside to Wasaga Beach, and after a 55-minute ride you’ll arrive at the Real Canadian Superstore stop and have five minutes to catch the 1:30 p.m. Simcoe LINX bus from there to downtown Collingwood. (Don’t miss it, or you’ll wait an hour for the next bus.)

Twenty-eight minutes later you’ll roll into the downtown Collingwood stop at the corner of Second and Pine streets, where you’ll have exactly two minutes to sprint to the 2:00 p.m. Colltrans bus to Blue Mountain Village, where you’ll connect to your final leg on a GTR bus to Meaford. No need to worry about missing the 2:00 p.m. bus—let’s assume you will. The next one will be along 60 minutes later. Stop for lunch at a downtown Collingwood restaurant and board the 3:00 p.m. bus to Blue Mountain.

You’ll arrive at 3:18 p.m. and still have another 60 minutes for a leisurely walk through the Village for a bit of people-watching and an ice cream before the 4:24 p.m. GTR bus to Meaford.

Travel on GTR means following a few rules: although walk-ons are accepted, you should book your seat in advance; you should be at the stop at least five minutes early; you must signal the driver so she knows that you’re not waiting for a Colltrans bus. Lastly, do not chase the bus! It won’t stop to load more passengers once it has started.

Whew! You’ll finally arrive at your destination in downtown Meaford at 5:06 p.m., and still have enough time for a leg-stretching brisk walk along the waterfront at Memorial Park before the evening’s entertainment begins. jurisdictional transit connections in a timely manner—TTC, GO, LINX, Colltrans, GTR. Still, that’s two hours faster than going by bike, which Google Maps estimates would take about nine hours. The total cost: only $29.

Of course there are other options for visitors travelling from the GTA. A straightforward solution might be to charter an airplane from NovaJet Aviation Group. A Cessna 206 Amphibian with three passenger seats, for a 48-minute flight from Billy Bishop City Centre Airport on Toronto Island to Collingwood Airport, will set you back a mere $6,215 one way for two passengers, taxes included. Alternatively, Simcoe County Airport Service will cost you about $155 to go from Pearson International Airport to Blue Mountain Resort.

There is also luxury ground transportation. Collingwood’s Ace Transportation, self-described as the “go-to transportation provider in Southern Georgian Bay with a fleet of luxury vehicles,” will chauffeur you and a friend, or just you, from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport to Collingwood for $274 plus tax. Custom pickup and dropoff locations can be arranged on either end for an additional fee.

Or, depending where you’re headed, Parkbus could be your answer to get from Toronto to the northern reaches of Grey County. “Parkbus connects city dwellers with nature through accessible transportation options,” says the parkbus.ca website. Destinations include Lion’s Head, Cyprus Lake Campground in Bruce Peninsula National Park, and Tobermory for $105 to $129 return.

Nowadays the Toronto-Blue Mountain ski shuttle is perhaps the best, no-nonsense, low-cost way to go from there to here—but, sadly, it’s not available in spring, summer or fall. From mid-December to the end of February, however, you can join the merry band of skiers, snowboarders and other winter sport enthusiasts on daily morning shuttles to Blue Mountain from Scarborough and downtown Toronto locations, run by AUC Tours for about $30 one-way.

Car-free travel may not be as simple as it used to be, but whatever option you choose, getting from “there to here” is still doable—and always worth the effort.