Huron Shores Area Transit (HSAT) has announced the Route 1 Express service between Sarnia and Grand Bend has discontinued.
Transit Coordinator Susan Mills said the service was introduced to provide additional capacity for international students seeking seasonal work during the summer months.
"For the last several years they were travelling up into the Lambton Shores area for seasonal work and because of that we were putting on extra buses to provide transportation, because the regular bus literally was full when it was leaving Lambton College and Lambton Mall," Mills said.
Ridership exploded in 2024 and buses from Lambton Elderly Outreach were used to keep up with demand, but the number of individuals using the service has fallen over time.
"Since the federal government capped international students, we have seen a huge drop in ridership on Route 1," Mills said. "In 2025, we had 4,000 less rides on Route 1, which included the seasonal service last year, then this year it dropped even further."
Mills emphasized the cancellation, effective July 27, only applies to the seasonal express service.
"The regular bus will still run as scheduled. It's just the extra seasonal express service that's being cancelled," she said.
Mills believes the regular bus can handle current capacity, but ridership will be closely monitored.
"We have an Express bus that we add to the London to Grand Bend line because of demand. That one is very much day trippers heading out to the beach, and if we need to do that with Route 1 we would certainly consider doing that," she said.
Current schedules and service information can be found at HuronShoresAreaTransit.ca or by contacting Huron Shores Area Transit customer service at 1-888-465-0783.
