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Coach Canada


Enzo Aquarius

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  • 2 months later...

I recently took the bus from Kingston to Toronto and I noticed that they have an extra bus parked at the Kington terminal. Is this used for spares incase of mechanical problems?

Drivers swap at this location, so do Toronto drivers go from Toronto to Kingston and then take a break and then take the next bus back to Toronto? What happens on the last run of the day? Does the driver dead head back to Toronto on the last bus? 

There is some damage on the roof of the bus which probably means someone struck the canopy of the bus terminal by parking too far forward. 

PXL_20201022_184919129.jpg

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12 hours ago, Shaun said:

I recently took the bus from Kingston to Toronto and I noticed that they have an extra bus parked at the Kington terminal. Is this used for spares incase of mechanical problems?

Drivers swap at this location, so do Toronto drivers go from Toronto to Kingston and then take a break and then take the next bus back to Toronto? What happens on the last run of the day? Does the driver dead head back to Toronto on the last bus? 

There is some damage on the roof of the bus which probably means someone struck the canopy of the bus terminal by parking too far forward. 

PXL_20201022_184919129.jpg

The bus isn’t typically there for a spare it’s likely there was a defect with the bus and it’s Awaiting a mechanic or a Kingston driver to take it back to the Kingston yard. 
 

there is a small break room for drivers there, a layover for them is normally 1.5 hours to 4 hours and they will never deadhead a bus back, the schedules are made so all drivers ( Toronto, Kingston and Montreal ) are able to do a full round trip. As for the damage on the roof, yeah that overhead canopy is the reason for it 

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4 hours ago, ZümmyZüm said:

The bus isn’t typically there for a spare it’s likely there was a defect with the bus and it’s Awaiting a mechanic or a Kingston driver to take it back to the Kingston yard. 
 

there is a small break room for drivers there, a layover for them is normally 1.5 hours to 4 hours and they will never deadhead a bus back, the schedules are made so all drivers ( Toronto, Kingston and Montreal ) are able to do a full round trip. As for the damage on the roof, yeah that overhead canopy is the reason for it 

I didn't know that they have a yard in Kingston. I assume that its where the school busses are based out of?

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4 hours ago, Shaun said:

I didn't know that they have a yard in Kingston. I assume that its where the school busses are based out of?

No, school buses were based out of their Mississauga yard, along with their smaller coach buses. They have sold off some school buses recently I’m unsure if there is any left. The Kingston yard caters mostly to queens university in Kingston with Coach Canada getting majority of the charters in that city

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  • 2 months later...
On 10/24/2020 at 7:31 PM, ZümmyZüm said:

No, school buses were based out of their Mississauga yard, along with their smaller coach buses. They have sold off some school buses recently I’m unsure if there is any left. The Kingston yard caters mostly to queens university in Kingston with Coach Canada getting majority of the charters in that city

Any of the few remaining school buses are based in Mississauga. Most of the school bus fleet/contracts and whitby garage were sold to Pacific western and run under their Century brand few years ago

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  • 3 months later...

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/megabus-coming-to-ottawa-following-greyhound-shutdown-1.5428439

 

Look like Megabus is utilizing its Ottawa-Kingston license immediately. First week is free (except for service fee and tax). Pick up will be at St Laurent OC Transpo Station with two trips direct to Toronto via Kingston four days a week

It looks like the biggest loss here with the Greyhound shutdown will be all Highway 7 service, Pembroke-Peterborough and Owen Sound. All the other routes will probably be replaced

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It looks like the routing would be Ottawa-Kingston-Toronto.

I fail to see this as an essential service. The reason why Greyhound thrived between Ottawa and Toronto is the use of Highway 7, serving towns along the way as well as larger communities like Peterborough. All that Megabus does is duplicating well-served Via Rail routes and Air Canada services, much like between Montreal and Toronto. I see this Megabus service to Ottawa will fail, because over the past few years, dispatch reliability on their Montreal route has been abysmal (lots of stories about buses being several hours late), horrible and mean fare policy, and not to mention, prices that are barely competitive. Between Montreal and Toronto, at least before the pandemic, even students were flocking to Air Canada and other airlines in droves because air travel offered a quicker and higher quality service with competitive pricing, and I can see the exact same happening between Ottawa and Toronto (such Air Canada flights would become a lot busier). Heck, I've even seen business and premium economy cabins filled with students during peak times, especially September just before university semesters start.

I'm not saying that it is wrong to have multiple carriers serving the same routes (for instance, Toronto to London England flights are served by multiple airlines every day), it's just that it is unacceptable for a carrier providing such deplorable service to serve key routes. Not to mention horrible staff, racist and abusive drivers of which I was a victim of one several years ago.

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21 minutes ago, anyfong said:

It looks like the routing would be Ottawa-Kingston-Toronto.

I fail to see this as an essential service. The reason why Greyhound thrived between Ottawa and Toronto is the use of Highway 7, serving towns along the way as well as larger communities like Peterborough. All that Megabus does is duplicating well-served Via Rail routes and Air Canada services, much like between Montreal and Toronto. I see this Megabus service to Ottawa will fail, because over the past few years, dispatch reliability on their Montreal route has been abysmal (lots of stories about buses being several hours late), horrible and mean fare policy, and not to mention, prices that are barely competitive. Between Montreal and Toronto, at least before the pandemic, even students were flocking to Air Canada and other airlines in droves because air travel offered a quicker and higher quality service with competitive pricing, and I can see the exact same happening between Ottawa and Toronto (such Air Canada flights would become a lot busier). Heck, I've even seen business and premium economy cabins filled with students during peak times, especially September just before university semesters start.

I'm not saying that it is wrong to have multiple carriers serving the same routes (for instance, Toronto to London England flights are served by multiple airlines every day), it's just that it is unacceptable for a carrier providing such deplorable service to serve key routes. Not to mention horrible staff, racist and abusive drivers of which I was a victim of one several years ago.

Greyhound served Highway 7 not because they want to, but because they had to. They didn't have the license to operate to Ottawa via Kingston. They also can not operate along the 401 in Quebec. Serving Ottawa via Kingston will probably be the route of choice for new operators in the future due to higher population density/colleges. I doubt anyone will serve Highway 7

All of this will be moot on July 1st when any carrier will be allowed to carry passengers to any points/routes of their choosing in Ontario. The key thing is. Megabus will continue to be the only carrier allowed to carry MTL-TOR due to Quebec regulations

In my opinion the fares on Megabus are much more reasonable than on Greyhound. Alot of the drawbacks you mentioned about Megabus, I hear about Greyhound as well (still in the US).

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I haven't taken a coach to Toronto from Ottawa for several years(pre-covid) but which is faster?

  Ottawa via HWY 7 to Toronto?

OR

Ottawa via Queensway-416-401-Toronto?

 

In one way I see why they picked ST Laurent station? Easy access to the Queensway then onto 416. But there one draw back, ST Laurent isn't that large for bus storage most of the space is filled with OC Transpo buses. I think the VIA Rail Station would of been better, it also offers a coinection to ONT to Sudbury at the same location.

 

In any case we'll see what happens after JULY 1.

It's going to be interesting to see where Orleans Express will be going as well as any other carrier will be station out of? My guess is the VIA Rail Station?

 

On Megabus scheduled they said from Thursady to Sunday, but have they said how many trips per day? I suspect with in a year we''ll see service 7 days a week.

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55 minutes ago, MCIBUS said:

I haven't taken a coach to Toronto from Ottawa for several years(pre-covid) but which is faster?

  Ottawa via HWY 7 to Toronto?

OR

Ottawa via Queensway-416-401-Toronto?

 

In one way I see why they picked ST Laurent station? Easy access to the Queensway then onto 416. But there one draw back, ST Laurent isn't that large for bus storage most of the space is filled with OC Transpo buses. I think the VIA Rail Station would of been better, it also offers a coinection to ONT to Sudbury at the same location.

 

In any case we'll see what happens after JULY 1.

It's going to be interesting to see where Orleans Express will be going as well as any other carrier will be station out of? My guess is the VIA Rail Station?

 

On Megabus scheduled they said from Thursady to Sunday, but have they said how many trips per day? I suspect with in a year we''ll see service 7 days a week.

Right now it looks like it's 2 trips each way.  But I'm sure that will change post-pandemic as demand will increase.  Though I hope they're conscious about the increasing competition between Via Rail, as well as the new cheap flight from Flair Air...

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3 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

I haven't taken a coach to Toronto from Ottawa for several years(pre-covid) but which is faster?

  Ottawa via HWY 7 to Toronto?

OR

Ottawa via Queensway-416-401-Toronto?

 

In one way I see why they picked ST Laurent station? Easy access to the Queensway then onto 416. But there one draw back, ST Laurent isn't that large for bus storage most of the space is filled with OC Transpo buses. I think the VIA Rail Station would of been better, it also offers a coinection to ONT to Sudbury at the same location.

 

In any case we'll see what happens after JULY 1.

It's going to be interesting to see where Orleans Express will be going as well as any other carrier will be station out of? My guess is the VIA Rail Station?

 

On Megabus scheduled they said from Thursady to Sunday, but have they said how many trips per day? I suspect with in a year we''ll see service 7 days a week.

Highway 7 is quicker due to significantly lower traffic counts.

However I expect all future companies to go via 401, because it passes through more population centers, which are more profitable. 

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To bad.

 

I fell sorry for those along the HWY 7 corridor, but I guess the motor coach companies are in it for profit.

 

With a month or so left before July 1, I haven't really heard of who will run out of Ottawa either then Megabus, ONT & possibly Orleans Express, not sure of any others.

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  • 2 years later...

I am not going to bother start a Coach USA thread as this also affects Coach Canada. The Wall Street Journal released a article (with paywall) that Coach USA is working with Restructuring Companies and Coach USA's financial situation may lead to Bankruptcy: https://www.wsj.com/articles/bus-operator-coach-usa-taps-financial-restructuring-advisers-4a26dd98

This is what I know from several sources who work for both Coach Canada and Coach USA

- It's still business as usual with Coach Canada but Coach Canada has been operating on a very tight budget since the Pandemic.

- Coach USA Employees in the NY/NJ area have not been paid or no pay on their scheduled day, also those same employees can't access their 401k.

- Both Coach USA and Coach Canada have not bought any new buses before that Pandemic started.

- Coach USA currently owes over $400 Million in debt to several creditors including the US Government for pandemic loans and of course employees who have not been paid.

- Coach USA has been slowly cutting service to Megabus and in the NJ/NY areas, this explains why Coach Canada has been receiving 'hand-me-down' Van Hool TD925 Coaches.

-Coach USA has already filled paperwork to begin bankruptcy proceedings, not sure if Chapter 11 is an option as the creditors want their money now.

- New buses that are bank owned have already been repo'd and the existing fleet is being put up for sale to raise capital, I am hearing the older buses are starting at $10,000 and the Restructuring Advisors have already called up companies in both the US and Canada to purchase those buses.

It seems I have been in hiding but I have been busy with Charters, I'll be back on the road in a day or 2 again.

As I get more new information, I will share it here.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/14/2024 at 12:58 AM, Megabus Rider said:

I am not going to bother start a Coach USA thread as this also affects Coach Canada. The Wall Street Journal released a article (with paywall) that Coach USA is working with Restructuring Companies and Coach USA's financial situation may lead to Bankruptcy: https://www.wsj.com/articles/bus-operator-coach-usa-taps-financial-restructuring-advisers-4a26dd98

This is what I know from several sources who work for both Coach Canada and Coach USA

- It's still business as usual with Coach Canada but Coach Canada has been operating on a very tight budget since the Pandemic.

- Coach USA Employees in the NY/NJ area have not been paid or no pay on their scheduled day, also those same employees can't access their 401k.

- Both Coach USA and Coach Canada have not bought any new buses before that Pandemic started.

- Coach USA currently owes over $400 Million in debt to several creditors including the US Government for pandemic loans and of course employees who have not been paid.

- Coach USA has been slowly cutting service to Megabus and in the NJ/NY areas, this explains why Coach Canada has been receiving 'hand-me-down' Van Hool TD925 Coaches.

-Coach USA has already filled paperwork to begin bankruptcy proceedings, not sure if Chapter 11 is an option as the creditors want their money now.

- New buses that are bank owned have already been repo'd and the existing fleet is being put up for sale to raise capital, I am hearing the older buses are starting at $10,000 and the Restructuring Advisors have already called up companies in both the US and Canada to purchase those buses.

It seems I have been in hiding but I have been busy with Charters, I'll be back on the road in a day or 2 again.

As I get more new information, I will share it here.

maybe they should start doing chartering service with safeway tour again lol

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On 3/22/2024 at 10:14 PM, leylandvictory2 said:

maybe they should start doing chartering service with safeway tour again lol

They'd have to separate from coach usa and become trentway wagar in order for that. The 10 driving time and greenroads system (with a cap on 108) really screwed them on the Safeway contracts. No day runs were doable and only overnight. 

TW still operates the buses but they handed over operations to coach USA in 96, then stagecoach and now variant equity advisors.. I truly hope there's someone with ties to TW and financial capabilities to save the brand but it's unlikely. 

 

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