Bus advocate asks province to halt Thompson-based operator

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This article was published 10/03/2025 (245 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The co-founder of an organization that advocates for bus operators across Canada is calling for a Manitoba company to be removed from service.

Kasper Wabinski of the Coast to Coast Bus Coalition last week sent a letter to provincial cabinet minister Lisa Naylor, requesting Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure revoke the Safety Fitness Certificate and operating authority of Thompson Bus & Freight Ltd., which operates as NCN Thompson Bus Lines.

Wabinski, owner of Ontario-based Kasper Bus Lines, sent the transportation minister the letter three days after a coach operated by NCN Thompson Bus Lines hit a ditch early March 3 while en route to Thompson from Winnipeg.

One passenger likened the incident to “a nightmare.” No one was reported hurt.

In Wabinski’s letter, which he shared with the Free Press, he refers to the incident as “the latest event in a long and troubling pattern of operational failures, regulatory non-compliance and passenger endangerment.”

He cites data from Thompson Bus & Freight Ltd.’s carrier snapshot, which indicates the company has failed two inspections, has five out-of-service violations and currently has a conditional safety rating. (The public can view information about carriers online through a carrier snapshot, called a C-SNAP.)

“These are not minor infractions,” Wabinski wrote. “Each out-of-service violation means a bus was deemed too dangerous to remain on the road. Combined with passenger complaints … and now a loss-of-control incident that could easily have been fatal, the evidence of chronic non-compliance is overwhelming.”

Wabinski said he sent the letter because he cares about the bus industry’s reputation. “I’m raising a red flag before something more serious happens.”

He said he worries about the impression the March 3 incident will have on people considering bus travel. He also notes in the past, NCN Thompson Bus Lines passengers have complained to the Free Press about coaches lacking heat in winter.

NCN Thompson Bus Lines is owned by Siddharth Varma, James Pelk and Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Nelson House. None of the partners responded to requests for comment.

According to the provincial government’s website, a conditional safety rating is assigned when a carrier fails an audit or the carrier’s profile does not demonstrate safe operation and compliance with applicable highway safety laws and regulations related to motor carriers. It is also assigned when a carrier is reapplying for a Safety Fitness Certificate after having it revoked.

Road safety is “the most important priority” for Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure, Naylor said.

The province has been working with NCN Thompson Bus Lines to bring the company into compliance, she added.

The bus operator is currently undergoing a third-party audit. The outcome of that audit as well as the RCMP’s findings following its investigation of the March 3 crash will help determine what happens next.

“It’s not our goal to shut down Manitoba companies,” Naylor said. “It’s our goal to make Manitoba companies as safe as they can be on Manitoba highways.”

Naylor declined to comment on the March 3 accident, citing the ongoing investigation into the matter.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca