Thompson-Winnipeg bus route gains competition, cost concerns

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This article was published 14/01/2025 (361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The route between Winnipeg and Thompson has gotten busier — and the low ticket prices its commercial bus lines are charging is not sustainable, an industry expert warns.

Greywolf Bus launched Dec. 26. It’s offering a $50, one-way ticket promotion for passengers in January.

The offer is simply a limited-time promotion, underlined co-owner Muhammad Tanveer. Greywolf Bus wanted to draw people to its five-bus fleet trekking the 9 1/2 hour drive from Thompson to Winnipeg.

“(This is) kind of our advertisement,” Tanveer said.

He and co-owner Naveed Butt haven’t yet decided when the promotion will end. It will likely last throughout January, Tanveer estimated. A typical one-way ticket may land at $80 or higher next month.

However, it’s hard to raise prices when the competition is charging roughly the same fare, Tanveer noted.

Thompson Bus and Freight dropped to $55 per one-way ticket for its own January promotion. Usually, the passenger and freight company charges at least $100.

Siddharth Varma, the company’s chief operating officer, asserted the deal has nothing to do with Greywolf Bus’ arrival. It’s simply for customer appreciation, not unlike past offers, he added.

“We see (Greywolf) as a healthy competition,” Varma submitted. “It’s good for passengers to have options.”

Regardless, lowered prices can lead to cutting corners on safety, said Kasper Wabinski, founder of Coast to Coast Bus Coalition and owner of Kasper Bus Lines, a company with ties in Manitoba and Ontario.

“The best price can win the customer over … that works if you’re selling TVs,” he said. “If a TV breaks, nothing really happens to you safety-wise.

“When it comes to transportation, people can die. It’s a lot more serious.”

Thompson Bus and Freight has been accused, in the past, by customers and former staff, of running its buses with little heat in the middle of winter. Northern residents visiting Winnipeg for hospital care are among its clientele.

But the company is following Manitoba’s rules and regulations, Varma said. It just acquired a new bus and has plans to purchase two more later this year, he added.

A provincial carrier profile shows Thompson Bus and Freight operates an average of 10 buses. The company’s National Safety Code rating has been knocked down to “conditional” status, which brings increased government scrutiny.

Thompson Bus failed two Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspections and logged five out-of-service inspections, as per its profile. It hadn’t passed any inspections.

The “conditional” ranking followed a need for operator improvement, mostly regarding monitoring hours of service, said Manitoba Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor.

Since being flagged in July 2023, Thompson Bus has come into compliance “pretty quickly,” Naylor said. Conditional status comes with monthly safety monitoring by government officials.

“We are trying to support businesses to operate … as safely as possible on our highways,” Naylor said, adding Thompson Bus must “wait out” its conditional safety rating.

There’s a three-year minimum wait before a new audit, Naylor noted.

Meantime, Wabinski has advocated for national regulation of the industry. Creating a board to rubber stamp businesses before they enter the market — and ensuring companies have solid plans for sustainability — would be beneficial, even at a provincial board level, Wabinski said.

“It seems to me like we’ve gone back in time,” he added.

Naylor said she hasn’t fielded any requests to reinstate Manitoba’s Highway Traffic Board, a quasi-jurisdictional regulatory tribunal that supervised transportation safety. It was disbanded in 2019 under the Progressive Conservatives; most of the board’s functions moved into the province’s transportation department.

“We’re always reviewing safety and how we can do things better,” Naylor stated.

Greywolf Bus prolonged entering the commercial bus industry because of past competition, according to Tanveer.

A number of such businesses sprouted after Greyhound’s departure in 2018. Many have closed, including Maple Bus Lines, which once ferried passengers and packages between Thompson and Winnipeg.

Greywolf Bus occupies Maple Bus Lines’ former office at 936 Sherbrook St. The two companies have no relation, Tanveer said.

Maple Bus Lines owner Lori Mann didn’t respond to questions by print deadline.

Greywolf Bus aims to “provide a good service” to the North, Tanveer relayed. The company has upwards of 10 staff; Tanveer expects the employee count to grow.

Greywolf Bus didn’t have a public provincial carrier profile as of Monday.

Tanveer’s goal includes expanding to The Pas and Saskatchewan and Alberta. He declined to share his background, adding it’s not in the bus sector.

Kasper Bus Lines launched a regular route from Winnipeg to The Pas, through Dauphin, in late 2024.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com