Transport committee  I would add to that. Exactly, we have to know what we have, and we have to work and build on what we have. That's why I think a team—a national highway transportation board, a committee or a department dedicated to this file—could take care of that inventory and work on filling those gaps through capital subsidies or per route subsidies, and each route could be its own separate case.

Transport committee  I don't have that exact figure. Fuel taxes are a big part of the fuel costs. Fuel is a major cost of operations right now, until there is electrification technology that we can use.

Transport committee  No, I don't ever receive any incentives right now in taxes or fuel rebates. It would be nice if we did.

Transport committee  I believe that program would work because it would allow us to transform non-profitable routes into sustainable routes, or non-sustainable routes into sustainable. Not all routes need subsidy. I like the idea of this program because it would allow us to build up routes that could become sustainable over time.

Transport committee  Thank you for that question. It depends on how far we go and how fast we can move. There's limited equipment available, and it takes time to put infrastructure in place. You don't want to go too hard, too fast, right off the bat. It could cost as little as $30 million a year, from my estimates.

Transport committee  It's for the entire country.

Transport committee  Based on Dr. Alhassan's comment, it wasn't $85 million to operate the company. It was only a $14.9 million subsidy from the province. The total cost was $85 million. They recovered that through ticket sales.

Transport committee  Yes. I believe that would be possible. The Greyhound network connected something like 200 communities. Now, it depends how far you want to go—

Transport committee  I've proposed a model of subsidy specific to the route, as they do in America with the feeder lines and the essential air service program, but converted to a bus system. If there are routes that have to be built up, routes take time to build up. When you start a route, you may be losing money for eight or 10 months.

Transport committee  We should create a national highway transportation department, a board that would be dedicated towards managing buses. I don't believe provinces will ever come to terms, so it has to be the feds, and the only way to do this in a timely manner across the nation is to centralize this right in the federal government, maybe in the infrastructure ministry or Transport Canada.

Transport committee  Actually, I would like to say that our ridership has gone up since we entered the market. We entered the market in 2015. I think it's critical for a bus company to provide the kind of service that people want and I think there's a misconception that buses are only for low-income people.

Transport committee  I would echo what Michael Cassidy has said. I agree with that statement for us as well.

Transport committee  Thank you for that. Hello, everyone. We are based in Thunder Bay, Ontario. We operate scheduled routes from Winnipeg to the west, Sioux Lookout and Longlac to the north, and as far east as White River. We operate 16 buses on four daily routes, delivering parcels, providing critical essential charters and, most importantly, scheduled services.

Transport committee  Hello, everyone. We are based in Thunder Bay, Ontario. We operate scheduled routes from Winnipeg to the west, Sioux Lookout and Longlac to the north, and as far east as White River. We operate 16 buses on four daily routes, delivering parcels and providing critical essential charter services and scheduled service.

Transport committee  How about this? Is that better?