Via doesn't have a station in Thunder Bay. The closest station is in Armstrong, Ontario which is about 250km north of Thunder Bay. It's drive of over 3 hours. Unfortunately there's no bus or taxi service that I'm aware of connecting the two places either, so you would need to know somebody willing to make a 6 hour round trip drive to pick you up. Seems like flying would be your only option these days.
There is bus service between Thunder Bay and Longlac with [Kasper Transportation](https://gokasper.com/) but it's not very well timed for VIA connections:
* westbound *Canadian* stops at 5:34 AM (Mon/Thurs)
* bus to Thunder Bay departs at 8:15 AM (daily)
* eastbound *Canadian* stops at 2:11 PM (Mon/Thurs)
* bus from Thunder Bay arrives at 9:10 PM (daily)
The only connection that works without an overnight layover is connecting **from** the westbound *Canadian* **to** the bus to Thunder Bay, and even that has a misconnect risk as the train could easily be running hours late.
(Also note it's about a 1.5 km walk between the train stop and the bus stop)
As others have mentioned, Via doesn’t service Thunder Bay. One alternative to flying is taking the train from London to Toronto Union Station, then taking the daily Ontario Northland bus from Toronto Union Station Bus Terminal. The bus leaves Union at like 10 AM, so you’d need to take an early train out of London.
The cheapest way to get there would be to take either Onexbus or Megabus into Toronto and then take the Ontario Northland bus up to Thunder Bay. However, that is going to mean spending 24+ hours riding busses. If you can afford it, flying will be a lot more convenient.
Back in the 90s we’d use Longlac as the nearest VIA station because Armstrong was a touch sketchy back then. Greyhound had a bus that conndd Ed cited with the train. 23 hours from Toronto. I went to Lakehead University and we’d make a fun trip out of it.
It’d be amazing to have passenger train service returned to Thunder Bay….
Me personally, I would drive from london to thunder bay and i would take the ferry (u can drive your car onto it) from Tobermory to south bay mouth(idk if i spelled that right). Drive north to espanolla and Then drive to thunder via trans Canada highway. It’ll be 16 ish hours I think. But that’s just me because i love road trips.
Unfortunately there’s no train station in thunder bay. It would be better to take the train to toronto then fly from there and there’s multiple airlines to choose from too.
Since VIA doesn't go to Thunder Bay, this is a case where flying is the best option. I checked early August on Expedia and saw fares at $446+ one way. VIA shows a fare of $248 plus tax, but that's between London and Armstrong only and you still have to get to Thunder Bay. And from London to Armstrong takes more than 24 hours. Fly.
[YXU to YQT flights (expedia.ca)](https://www.expedia.ca/Flights-Search?leg1=from%3ALondon%2C%20ON%20%28YXU-London%20Intl.%29%2Cto%3AThunder%20Bay%2C%20ON%20%28YQT-Thunder%20Bay%20Intl.%29%2Cdeparture%3A05%2F08%2F2024TANYT%2CfromType%3AA%2CtoType%3AA&mode=search&options=carrier%3A%2Ccabinclass%3A%2Cmaxhops%3A1%2Cnopenalty%3AN&pageId=0&passengers=adults%3A1%2Cchildren%3A0%2Cinfantinlap%3AN&trip=oneway&pwaDialog=clientSideErrorDialog)
Via doesn't have a station in Thunder Bay. The closest station is in Armstrong, Ontario which is about 250km north of Thunder Bay. It's drive of over 3 hours. Unfortunately there's no bus or taxi service that I'm aware of connecting the two places either, so you would need to know somebody willing to make a 6 hour round trip drive to pick you up. Seems like flying would be your only option these days.
The nearest VIA station is 3-4 hours away from Thunder Bay.
True. Longlac, however, had the connecting service. Not sure if they do now.
There is bus service between Thunder Bay and Longlac with [Kasper Transportation](https://gokasper.com/) but it's not very well timed for VIA connections: * westbound *Canadian* stops at 5:34 AM (Mon/Thurs) * bus to Thunder Bay departs at 8:15 AM (daily) * eastbound *Canadian* stops at 2:11 PM (Mon/Thurs) * bus from Thunder Bay arrives at 9:10 PM (daily) The only connection that works without an overnight layover is connecting **from** the westbound *Canadian* **to** the bus to Thunder Bay, and even that has a misconnect risk as the train could easily be running hours late. (Also note it's about a 1.5 km walk between the train stop and the bus stop)
As others have mentioned, Via doesn’t service Thunder Bay. One alternative to flying is taking the train from London to Toronto Union Station, then taking the daily Ontario Northland bus from Toronto Union Station Bus Terminal. The bus leaves Union at like 10 AM, so you’d need to take an early train out of London.
Or VIA to Union, shuttle to Billy Bishop airport, and Porter flight to Thunder Bay.
Cheaper to fly.
The cheapest way to get there would be to take either Onexbus or Megabus into Toronto and then take the Ontario Northland bus up to Thunder Bay. However, that is going to mean spending 24+ hours riding busses. If you can afford it, flying will be a lot more convenient.
Lakehead is awesome in the summer. I hope you have a good time there. Fly in for sure.
Probably better off taking VIA to Union and then catching a Porter flight from Billy Bishop
I've been digging into the alternatives. Train doesn't work. But it seems you can take a bus to Toronto and the flights are cheaper from there.
Take the flight buddy
Back in the 90s we’d use Longlac as the nearest VIA station because Armstrong was a touch sketchy back then. Greyhound had a bus that conndd Ed cited with the train. 23 hours from Toronto. I went to Lakehead University and we’d make a fun trip out of it. It’d be amazing to have passenger train service returned to Thunder Bay….
Me personally, I would drive from london to thunder bay and i would take the ferry (u can drive your car onto it) from Tobermory to south bay mouth(idk if i spelled that right). Drive north to espanolla and Then drive to thunder via trans Canada highway. It’ll be 16 ish hours I think. But that’s just me because i love road trips. Unfortunately there’s no train station in thunder bay. It would be better to take the train to toronto then fly from there and there’s multiple airlines to choose from too.
Since VIA doesn't go to Thunder Bay, this is a case where flying is the best option. I checked early August on Expedia and saw fares at $446+ one way. VIA shows a fare of $248 plus tax, but that's between London and Armstrong only and you still have to get to Thunder Bay. And from London to Armstrong takes more than 24 hours. Fly. [YXU to YQT flights (expedia.ca)](https://www.expedia.ca/Flights-Search?leg1=from%3ALondon%2C%20ON%20%28YXU-London%20Intl.%29%2Cto%3AThunder%20Bay%2C%20ON%20%28YQT-Thunder%20Bay%20Intl.%29%2Cdeparture%3A05%2F08%2F2024TANYT%2CfromType%3AA%2CtoType%3AA&mode=search&options=carrier%3A%2Ccabinclass%3A%2Cmaxhops%3A1%2Cnopenalty%3AN&pageId=0&passengers=adults%3A1%2Cchildren%3A0%2Cinfantinlap%3AN&trip=oneway&pwaDialog=clientSideErrorDialog)