Province put on the spot to state the ground rules.

• Position: Ontario's bus industry - Transportation Report

The Ontario Motor Coach Association (OMCA) is pressing the province to clarify what the private sector's role is in Ontario's bus industry.

The request stems from the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission's purchase of Sudbury to Toronto and North Bay to Toronto bus routes, related coach equipment and the Barrie bus terminal from Gray Coach Bus Lines Inc.

The OMCA and Penetang Midland Bus Coach Lines intervened in an Ontario Highway Transport Board hearing concerning the transfer of operating licences from Gray Coach to Ontario Northland.

"The reason we were in it (the hearing) from day one was that we wanted a policy statement from the provincial government on the role of the private sector in the province's transportation system," explained OMCA president Brian Crow.

"We want to know what the ground rules are so that we can decide on investing in new buses and terminals."

On Nov. 1 the board granted Ontario Northland the licences required to operate bus routes between...