The Bus Terminal That Wasn't...

This morning's task was getting my sister onto a bus to start her journey home...Easy, right? In the past I have always driven her to the Oshawa bus terminal to buy her ticket to Toronto where she then connects to another bus to take her north to Sudbury. So..off we went to do the same...

Alas...when we arrived there, got her luggage our of the car and headed for the entrance..we found that the door was locked! Say what? Locked at 9:00AM? A mystery, and there was no-one around to ask !

Luckily for us, the woman who runs the parking lot next door saw us standing there when she arrived at work and came over to enlighten us..
It seems that the bus terminal closed 3 years ago! Who knew? I guess folks who have used the bus in the last 3 years knew...but that was not us! 

For whatever reason, they did not take down the "Bus Terminal" signs and the woman said that online they are still directing people to the terminal; as a result, she ends up regularly rescuing people like us who are confused about where to catch the bus!  

She went on to advise us.."You have to go up the street to that bus stop on the corner.. where the local buses stop...you need bus #900 to get to Toronto.."  She meant well, but she was wrong...

We waited for said bus and fortunately, when it arrived, another customer who had overheard us chatting about heading to Toronto, caught us just in time - "WRONG bus! You need the GO bus  and the next one doesn't come until 9:26"   Another half- hour wait, but barring any delays, it would still connect with my sister's bus out of Toronto at 11:15....and it did...
but what a fiasco...

Her 265-mile trip home by bus took 7 hours 15 minutes...She could have flown from Toronto to Paris in that length of time! 

And then add on the time spent waiting for the right bus and the time it took getting to her house from the Sudbury bus terminal and one asks, why use the bus? 

But what can you do? There is not a lot of choice...almost NO passenger train service to Sudbury..and flying is very expensive..You can drive, but in winter, the weather can wreak havoc on the roads...a 5-hour drive in a blizzard? Not! Hence the bus...You just have to grin and bear it..( extra) 

Lesson learned: Just because it looks like a bus terminal and it says it IS a bus terminal, it isn't necessarily a bus terminal...