Northeastern bus company makes inroads into Thunder Bay: Post-secondary charter market, corporate gigs is the niche for Tisdale Bus Lines.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: NEWS

The demise of Caribou Coach in Thunder Bay has opened up an opportunity for Tisdale Bus Lines to expand into northwestern Ontario.

"Our strategy right now is just to try to look after the charter market in Thunder Bay," said Ron Malette, owner of the South Porcupine-based bus company.

It's the first time the company is stepping out from its Timmins-Sudbury-North Bay territory to serve the northwest's largest city and towns on the Highway 11 corridor.

"We're hoping we can fill some of that void and provide for those communities."

After Caribou went out of business in early January, Tisdale purchased one of the company's six remaining buses but Malette said he intends to buy new buses to reposition them in the city.

In assessing the age and quality of the vehicles with some bus companies, Malette feels there's room in the Thunder Bay area to add another carrier.

"Some clients feel they deserve better quality."

Malette said he's always reinvesting to upgrade his fleet of 56-seat highway coaches and 24-seat mini-buses.

"We take pride in the fleet we have and we're always adding new equipment. We put in nine new coaches in last three years."

Malette applied to the Ontario Highway Transport Board to transfer Caribou's operating licences over to his company.

If there are no objections to the board from competing bus companies who feel Tisdale's presence is injurious to their operations, he anticipated having the licences in his possession in February.

Even before obtaining the licences, Tisdale already has vehicles parked in that market, according to an agreement struck with Caribou.

"We have an operating authority that will bring us from North Bay through to the Manitoba border."

Malette said he has done four or five school and sports team-related charter jobs in recent weeks.

In the northeast, Tisdale operates shuttle service between Cochrane and the Detour Gold Mine, along with doing charters for post-secondary varsity teams.

He hopes to do the same in Thunder Bay, as well as attract corporate and commercial clients, and focus on opportunities in the region's mining...