Thunder Bay Transit - History

History

Public transit in Thunder Bay was first established in 1892. The silver boom had recently ended, destroying Port Arthur's primary economic raison d'être. Compounding the matter was the Canadian Pacific Railway's decision to build its grain elevators and rail yards in neighbouring Fort William, 6 km (4 mi) away. With businesses and population vanishing, Port Arthur decided after much debate to build a street car line to connect the town with the rail yards in neighbouring Fort William, much to that town's chagrin.

In 1891, the town of Port Arthur was authorized to construct and operate the first municipally owned street railway in Canada. The Port Arthur Street Railway (PASRy) commenced operations in March 1892, and in that same year, McDonald and Company commenced operations of a private street railway in neighbouring Fort William, which connected the Port Arthur Street Railway's southern terminus at Fort William's northern town limits into the downtown core of Fort William. Although Fort William wanted nothing to do with Port Arthur's municipal railway, PASRy gained control of the McDonald and Company line on June 1, 1893, and extended its operations into the town.

In 1907, Port Arthur and Fort William became cities. The Ontario Railway and Municipal Board forced Port Arthur to sell its section of the railway in Fort William to that city on March 11, 1908, and to submit to operation by a joint commission until December 1, 1913, under the name Port Arthur and Fort William Railway. Thereafter, each city ran its own street railway—Port Arthur assumed the name Port Arthur Civic Railway in 1914, and Fort William assumed the name Fort William Street Railway. Port Arthur added two belt lines to its main line in 1913, with the first street cars running on the North Belt Line October 29, 1913.

The Port Arthur Public Utilities Commission which ran the street railway acquired its first 36-passenger bus (painted maroon and cream) in August 1946 manufactured at the Canadian Car and Foundry plant in Fort William. It immediately phased out the Arthur Street railway line, and renamed its system as Port Arthur Transit.. Gasoline-powered buses were introduced in December 1946 to serve the intercity route. Electric trolley buses were introduced on December 15, 1947, the same year that the Fort William Street Railway was renamed the Fort William Transit Company. The trolley buses were manufactured by J. G. Brill and Company at the Canadian Car and Foundry plant in Fort William. The Intercity trolley coach line of each city's system opened in 1947 and was interlined, with operators' coaches serving the entire line in both cities until 1955.

Street railway operations ended in Thunder Bay in 1948. Port Arthur's last three antiquated cars made their final run over the North Belt Line on February 16, 1948 in a driving snowstorm, and Fort William's street cars ceased operations on October 16, 1948. Since January 1, 1970, when Port Arthur and Fort William were amalgamated into the City of Thunder Bay, the system has been known as Thunder Bay Transit. Electric trolley buses were discontinued on September 10, 1972, and the city has since used diesel buses.

Thunder Bay Transit purchased its first low floor buses in 1994, and by March 2007 became the first full-sized transit agency in Ontario to have a fleet that consisted entirely of accessible buses. Later that year, Thunder Bay Transit became the second Canadian transit agency to implement Grey Island Systems GPS/AVL and NextBus system with passenger counters, fare box integrations and passenger information systems.