Thunder Bay Transit - 807-684-3744

Thunder Bay Transit is the public transit operator in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It was formed in 1970, after the amalgamation of the cities of Port Arthur and Fort William and their respective transit agencies. Thunder Bay Transit is a member of the Canadian Urban Transit Association.Thunder Bay Transit operates 17 transit routes in the urban area of Thunder Bay and neighbouring Fort William First Nation, an area of 256km2. Its fleet of 49 buses run on diesel and biodiesel fuels. Thunder Bay Transit carries 3,300,000 passengers annually, or approximately 9,000 passengers daily, and employs 140 people. The company maintains two transit terminals, one at 40 North Water Street in Port Arthur, and the other at City Hall at 500 Donald Street East in Fort William.Thunder Bay Transit is the first transit agency in Ontario to be 100% handicapped accessible, and the first Canadian transit agency to use the NextBus system with passenger counters, fare box integrations and passenger information systems.HistoryPublic 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, 6km 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.

Tags: Public Transportation