Potential bus riders in Thompson will remain out in the cold for the rest of November, barring a special meeting of council, since proposals received to operate city buses were neither discussed not voted upon at council’s Nov. 13 meeting.
The only mention of any city transit-related items during the meeting came in the form of the development and review committee report, which noted that capital projects completed in 2018 included the installation of new transit shelters and that new transit signs are ready for installation.
Those shelters have been little more than decoration since Nov. 1, however, when the city suspended transit services the day after Greyhound ceased operating buses in Western Canada and stopped providing drivers, maintenance and storage for Thompson’s two city-owned buses.
The city’s request for proposals issued October required potential transit service operators to submit their proposals by Oct. 17.
Two proposals for the provision of transit services were received but the ad hoc committee reviewing the proposals wanted further details and clarification of the submitted information before entering into a long-term contract said an Oct. 26 city press release.
Two bus companies told the Thompson Citizen in late October that they had only about a week to prepare their proposals. One of them – Thunder Bay, Ont.-based Kasper Transportation – decided not to submit a proposal while the other – Thompson Bus – said it was a challenge, but one that they took on successfully.
“We were prepared for it,” said Jimmy Pelk of Thompson Bus, which has hired some drivers who used to drive city buses for Greyhound as well as mechanics who worked on the buses. “We just needed to make sense of how they wanted it presented to them.”
R.D. Parker Collegiate is collecting names and addresses of students who have been negatively impacted by the lack of transit services and will be presenting the list to the city next week.
