The heat is on: no more frozen bus rides, province vows After years of chilling tales, Manitoba inspectors set to conduct random stops By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 2:12 PM CDT Monday, Oct. 21, 2024 Last Modified: 6:48 PM CDT Monday, Oct. 21, 2024 Updates

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After years of headlines about frigid rides to and from Winnipeg, heat on commercial buses will be mandatory this winter, the province announced Monday.

New bus safety laws will require functional passenger heating systems effective Nov. 1. Previously, there was no provincial requirement for heaters in passenger areas of buses, aside from school buses.

Bus operators must examine their heat systems daily and provincial bus inspectors will conduct random stops. They will have the authority to place any vehicle that doesn’t comply out of service.

The Highway Traffic Act amendments follow reports from multiple bus passengers who travelled in cold weather without adequate heat over the years.

Earlier this year, Erik Skeaff told the Free Press about his bone-chilling trip to Winnipeg from Thompson, via Thompson Bus and Freight. He joined the chorus: in 2019, a passenger described their voyage as “a nightmare in an icebox.” Last year, a handful of passengers and former staff detailed their trips between the Prairie cities, alleging a lack of heat (including when the temperature dropped near -40 with the windchill).

Skeaff was bundled up with a parka, snow pants and blankets one one of those trips, a nine-hour trek in March. He was happy to learn of the legislation changes.

“I was really surprised to hear that it wasn’t (already) mandated,” Skeaff said.

Often, medical patients travel from Thompson to Winnipeg aboard commercial buses, with the cost of flying “prohibitive,” Skeaff said.

He wonders if bus operators who haven’t provided adequate heat could be criminally charged.

“You’re in a space that you can’t get out of, and you’re put into a situation of physical pain for hours and hours on end, and you can’t escape it.

“It just seems so obviously wrong.”

“You’re in a space that you can’t get out of, and you’re put into a situation of physical pain for hours and hours on end, and you can’t escape it.”–Erik Skeaff

The new amendments focus solely on the Highway Traffic Act, Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor said.

The province’s motor carrier enforcement unit patrols roads and inspects vehicles. It did not check on bus heating systems in the past. The number of enforcement officers won’t increase, but the goal is to have officers stop buses more often, a provincial spokesperson said.

Twelve of 40 motor carrier enforcement officers are trained to handle bus inspections.

If a company is caught disobeying rules, it will be fined either $174, $298 or a combined total of $472, depending on the case.

“The fines haven’t been reviewed for some time,” Naylor said, asked if the charges were severe enough. “We are open to reviewing the fines.”

While enforcement officers will be able to place buses out of service, those decisions will be made “with great care and respect for passengers,” Naylor said.

One person who used to drive buses is skeptical anything will change.

Eric Dusenge said just last winter he received texts from passengers complaining about cold conditions on buses.

“It’s useless to put some legislation (in) if they’re not going to be enforcing (it),” Dusenge, a former bus driver for Thompson Bus and Freight, said. “Do you know how many times I … (made company) reports about freezing buses?”

Thompson Bus and Freight didn’t respond to interview requests by print deadline.

Lori Mann, owner of Maple Bus Lines — which once transported passengers between Thompson and Winnipeg — called the amendments “a good thing.”

“I don’t understand why it’s only stipulated now,” she added.

Maple Bus Lines had been accused of operating with a lack of heat in the past, which Mann disputed.

Targeting bus heat is a “good start,” but it’s just scratching the surface of issues Manitoba operators face, said Kasper Wabinski, co-founder of the national Coast to Coast Bus Coalition.

“To me, Manitoba is an attractive place for people who can’t do business in Ontario,” Wabinski said.

The keystone province’s safety standards are less strict than its eastern neighbour’s, added Wabinski, who heads an Ontarian transportation company. For example, Ontario requires more frequent bus inspections.

He advocates for uniform commercial bus rules across the country.

The provincial amendments affect the vehicle equipment, safety and inspection regulation and the commercial vehicle trip inspection regulation under the Highway Traffic Act.

Greyhound ended its passenger service in Manitoba in 2018.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com