While TOK Coachlines will no longer be operating a Haliburton to Toronto bus route, The Highlander has learned that Entertainment Tour Travel Inc., based out of Markham, is taking over the service.
Company spokesman, Mark Williams, was planning to run a coach Feb. 2 and continue Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as TOK previously did.
Williams said he owns property in Minden Hills and was moved when he heard that TOK was discontinuing service effective Jan. 31, 2024.
“Hard to close it down just like that,” he told the paper. “I’m willing to take it on, and put one of my buses on the route, and see where we go from here.”
He said the only big change for now is the last stop will be Yorkdale, otherwise it will be status quo.
He said people can purchase tickets from agencies. Here in the County, they can go to the Minden Shell gas station. In addition, they can purchase tickets on the bus. The company is working on a website for ticket orders in future. He said he will consult with riders about future changes to schedule times etc.
“I think it’s going to be great. I really do believe it’s going to be awesome,” he said.
Williams said he purchased his property in the County in 2021.
He said his company, which started in 2016, runs coach tours out of Toronto and across the GTA, to Gravenhurst for the steamship trip and farmers market, Ottawa for the Tulip Festival, to Quebec, overnight to Niagara Falls and Windsor, even to New Orleans.
Stephen and Mieke Foster take the first Entertainment Tour Travel Inc. bus to Toronto Feb. 2
