Northland bus service returns to Espanola

Bus service is returns to Espanola Ontario Northland will now turn off Highway 17 in Espanola before picking up & dropping off passengers at the recreational complex.

After months of waiting and wondering, Ontario Northland users will now be able to catch the bus in the community of Espanola.

The town made the announcement this morning across its social media feeds, that the bus will now come into town instead of dropping off and picking up passengers at the service centre in nearby McKerrow.

“We’re extremely happy, we’re extremely pleased,” said Espanola Mayor Doug Gervais.

“At the time when they were coming into Espanola and we had the service for four or five months, to my knowledge, and boom it was gone. What we did then was started doing some investigation, some calling, finding out what was happening and it probably took about five or six months to get it back on the road but with the cooperation of Mike Mantha (Algoma-Manitoulin MPP) and our office here and myself, we had to come to some terms and a deal with them and they said tickets would start at the complex on January 7th and we were extremely happy about that.”

Gervais said it is a lifeline to his community for those who don’t have vehicles. He added as soon as they shut it down, he wasn’t aware of the situation and it was clearly missed.

“People were very upset about it, they could pick it up but they had to go out of town, to the corner of Highway 17 and 6, catch a taxi and it was definitely a safety issue,” Gervais said.

It was a sentiment echoed by Mantha himself.

“It was a huge safety concern and an accommodation concern where individuals were being left basically without a warm place, places to sit down and proper lighting and so it was great in seeing these services returned,” Mantha told CTV News from the near north of his riding, at Pic-Mobert First Nation.

According to the schedule on Northland’s website, the bus service will run for six days a week and will stop at the recreational complex once a day.

Both men said they’re pleased with the turn of events and are hopeful residents will take Northland up on the service.

CTV News reached out to Ontario Northland and did not hear back before our publication deadline.