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YUL Bus Charters - 2013 Activities


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Can you believe that YUL Bus Charters is now in our eighth year of operation?

After many successful activities last year, we continue to pursue our mandate in offering quality charters that you have come to expect from Montreal's premier bus enthusiast group.

Due to complications in scheduling for the long term, planning for YUL Bus Charter 2013 Weekend cannot take place until mid-March. We regret the inconvenience and will advise our activities for Saturday 4 May and/or Sunday 5 May 2013 at the earliest possible moment.

However, we are prepared to announce the following activity...

Wednesday 12 June 2013 - Réseau de transport de Longueuil Classic Charter

In anticipation of the Bus History Association's upcoming convention in the Greater Montreal Area, we would like to host a fan trip featuring one of the oldest vehicles on the South Shore. During the week, charters cannot be held during rush hours, so we are proposing to offer a midday charter. If we are fortunate to drive a rollsign equipped vehicle (1989 MCI Classic 9-001 or 9-031), we will favour posing our bus on abolished routes. If we have a Hector Balios equipped vehicle (1994 Nova Classic with Detroit Diesel 6V92 engine or 1996 Nova Classic with Cummins C8.3 engine), we would suggest using a slower shutter speed to capture the red LED destination sign. We will also arrange for an opportunity for a bus line-up on the tarmac outside Garage St-Hubert.

In the interests of offering the best value for money, we are not anticipating a lunch stop at the present moment; we welcome you to bring food and beverage aboard the bus. We have planned opportunities for bathroom breaks.

Please note that the fan trip is operated independently of the BHA convention and thus admission to this charter will be payable directly to us.

Proposed time: 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Proposed pick up and drop off location: Terminus Centre-Ville, 1000 rue de la Gauchetiere, Montréal (details to be confirmed).

Map of TCV: http://www.amt.qc.ca/images/autobus/plan_terminus/plan_term_8.jpg

Request pick up/drop off at Terminus Panama can be offered at our discretion.

Proposed cost: $30. Prices will be lowered if enough interest is forthcoming.

My charter website will no longer be updated due to work and other priorities. For the foreseeable future, all charter news will be conducted via the CPTDB!

I hope that some of you are interested, so please bookmark your calendars. More details will follow in the forthcoming weeks and months, so please pay attention to this thread. All e-mails of interest, questions, comments, and complaints should be sent to yulbuscharters[at]gmail[.]com. PMs on the board concerning the charters are to be avoided.

N.B.: Management reserves the right to restrict or refuse admission on their charters. Our policy is to only offer boarding privileges to adults (no participants 17 years of age or younger) and all participants are required to sign a waiver prior to boarding should we choose to offer one.

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  • 1 month later...

Due to complications in scheduling for the long term, planning for YUL Bus Charter 2013 Weekend cannot take place until mid-March. We regret the inconvenience and will advise our activities for Saturday 4 May and/or Sunday 5 May 2013 at the earliest possible moment.

Hello friends! We are now in a position to offer the following ideas for your consideration:

YUL Bus Charter 2013

Société de transport de Trois-Rivières (STTR) Classic Charter

and/or

Société de transport de Sherbrooke (STS) Classic Charter

Projected dates: Saturday 4 May and/or Sunday 5 May 2013

Before we even get into the details, I would like to get a show of hands for who is in favour of which activity, and on which dates. Whichever proposal gets the most interest will end up happening.

Logistically, I would favour the Trois-Rivières charter on Saturday afternoon, and the Sherbrooke charter late Sunday morning.

It is too soon to discuss start/stop locations, trip times, duration, cost, potential for lunch stops, etc. We hope to finalize our choice and begin planning in earnest by the end of this month.

For STTR, we would prefer a 9400 series 1994 Nova Classic with a working rollsign. For STS, if A/C works in the ex-Santa Monica 1992 MCI Classics, we could hold off hosting such a charter until the summer and charter a 1995 Nova Classic with S50 powertrain. Ultimately the choice is yours.

Trois-Rivières and Sherbrooke are two cities where YUL Bus Charters has yet to commandeer a vehicle. I understand that this event would happen merely a couple of days after the major MBS convention in NY/NJ, which is why I am gauging people's interest before proceeding further. This is a very exciting opportunity for us and we hope that you are interested in joining us this May!

As an aside... the private RTL charter which will supplement the BHA activities this June in Montreal is still planned for Wednesday 12 June 2013, to be held between 10 am and 2 pm. For further details on this activity and the BHA convention, please refer to the following thread: http://www.cptdb.ca/index.php?showtopic=15536

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I like the idea of this weekend but I'm out in less the dates are changed as I'm working through this weekend due to going to mbs the weekend before (I'm on vacation board this period and managed to score Thurs/fr/sat/sun/mon off for mbs)

. . . Also not to mention that weekend conflicts with the Philly Traction meet weekend which a few of the guys are going. Is it possible to do this later in the year or are this vehicles being retired soon?

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I know that there is a conflict with the activity in Philadelphia, but I've held this weekend since 2006 and I'm unwilling to give it up unless there is enough consensus here for me to switch the dates (please provide an alternative). It also depends on the availability of our chosen STTR driver, who has already committed to driving us either day this weekend. I am not doing this to shut anyone out, it is just an unfortunate coincidence. I am confident that if our experiences are positive that we will return to these cities.

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I know that there is a conflict with the activity in Philadelphia, but I've held this weekend since 2006 and I'm unwilling to give it up unless there is enough consensus here for me to switch the dates (please provide an alternative). It also depends on the availability of our chosen STTR driver, who has already committed to driving us either day this weekend. I am not doing this to shut anyone out, it is just an unfortunate coincidence. I am confident that if our experiences are positive that we will return to these cities.

If the guys are still in Philly and they are heading there, I don't mind switching the dates a weekend later. I know it's hard to break the traditional weekends since the organization started, but we gotta do what we gotta do.

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  • 3 weeks later...

UPDATE:

The Trois-Rivières charter is being planned in conjunction with STTR driver Félix Parent-Rocheleau. We are planning on starting and ending the tour from the garage (200 rue Bellefeuille) from 11 am to 2 pm. Moreover, we will incorporate a garage tour into our trip. If no interior visit is possible, at the very least we will arrange for a photo lineup outside the garage. With Félix's in-depth knowledge of his home town, we will endeavour for a great routing which will respect all sun angles. The vehicle of choice will be one of the 1994 Nova Classics with rollsign.

As some of you may know, he is one of the owners of STO 8202, formerly CMTS 32105, a 1982 GM T6H-5307N. Félix has graciously offered our participants the option of a private tour aboard his New Look for two to three hours immediately following our Classic charter. This is the reason why we are electing to start our Classic charter early. Félix is asking for donations as admission for riding 8202, to cover the costs of maintenance and surely the cost of diesel for the day. You can therefore expect this charter to end some time between 4 and 5 pm (hopefully no later than 6 pm, but surely no one will mind?).

For those of you electing to spend the night in Sherbrooke, David Vincent (Orion VIII) has surmised that hotel rooms will be at a premium in that city due to a sports tournament taking place in the city. An alternative would be to stay midway between both cities in Drummondville. A couple of friends and I will be spending the night at the Best Western there, and their rates are fairly reasonable.

For the Sherbrooke charter, I'm afraid that I don't have any more news at this point. In order to facilitate return times to Ontario, I will favour that the charter will finish early. I think that a reasonable charter duration is three hours, so 11 am to 2 pm is something that hopefully we can work with.

Proposed cost: $30 per charter, $50 for both. Please note that these figures do not factor in the cost of riding 8202.

All details will be finalized mid-April. Stay tuned!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update:

Last Thursday, I drove to Trois-Rivières to meet STTR operator Felix Parent-Rocheleau, who graciously offered to help out with the routing of our charter. Together, we have an exciting fun-filled 3 hour charter planned and if the weather cooperates, this will undoubtedly be the best Classic charter held in the city to date!

We will charter 9401 in priority (1994 Nova Bus Classic), with 9403 as a backup unit. This is a preferred unit by Felix and to my knowledge has never been chartered before. The Classics are still in vintage CITF colours. In fact, CITF bus stop flags are still scattered around the city, over 11 years after the company was renamed to STTR!

I am confirming that the charter will start and end at the STTR garage located at 2000 rue Bellefeuille which is located adjacent to the Boulevard des Forges exit from Autoroute 40 (exit 199). Those arriving by car are welcome to park in the employee parking lot (despite signage to the contrary). The departure will take place at 11:00 am sharp so please plan on showing up at 10:45 am the latest. As usual, I will be taking care of registration for the charters, so exact bills are appreciated! Our first stop will be the downtown bus terminal for the timed transfer at 11:15 am. I am mentioning this information in case that someone misses our departure from the garage, but note that there is no free parking directly adjacent to the downtown bus terminal.

Participants are strongly encouraged to tend to their needs (such as dining, WC use, and the like) prior to the charter. Toward the end of the charter, we will have a prolonged photo stop at Terminus Les Rivieres to meet two pulses of buses. At this moment, participants will have ample opportunity (15 mins or so) to use the facilities of the adjacent shopping mall, including the food court.

Working with Felix, we are arranging for optimal sun angles and touring historic landmarks of the city. Felix is a lifelong "Trifluvien" and is especially proud to show us parts of the city that did not suffer through a great fire. We have arranged for a few surprises for the charter. Motorcoach fans will certainly be pleased!

At the end of the charter, we will arrange for a garage tour, but the STTR facilities are small and Felix admits that there is not much to see. This visit is subject to approval from management. We will nevertheless arrange for a bus pullout.

Following this, Felix is inviting us aboard his New Look 8202 (ex-Gatineau, exx-Sherbrooke) for a two to three hour trip around the city. This activity is held independent of the YUL Bus Charter 2013 weekend and as such, there will be a separate payment to ride this bus. After talking to him, we agreed that a fair suggested donation would be $20. Both charters will incorporate some autoroute running for videos; the 8202 charter will cover areas of the city that we might miss with the Classic.

At the end of this charter, participants will be dropped off at the STTR garage. Organized by Felix and I, there will be an optional dinner afterwards taking place at Bravo Pizzeria located at 141 rue St-Antoine in downtown Trois-Rivières. 8202 will be the means of transportation to the restaurant (as cars cannot park downtown for free, yet buses can). I have dined at this restaurant with Felix (who was once a waiter here) and I can attest that this diner offer good value for money, in fact I believe that it is the equivalent of New Verdun restaurant. Interested persons should let us know so that we can make reservations accordingly. After dinner, we will be brought back to the garage with the New Look.

All notices of attendance should be made known to the following email address: yulbuscharters -at- gmail -dot- com whereas questions and comments can be affixed here or via PM.

Thank you for your continued confidence in YUL Bus Charters and we look forward to seeing you soon!

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Update:

Last Thursday, I drove to Trois-Rivières to meet STTR operator Felix Parent-Rocheleau, who graciously offered to help out with the routing of our charter. Together, we have an exciting fun-filled 3 hour charter planned and if the weather cooperates, this will undoubtedly be the best Classic charter held in the city to date!

We will charter 9401 in priority (1994 Nova Bus Classic), with 9403 as a backup unit. This is a preferred unit by Felix and to my knowledge has never been chartered before. The Classics are still in vintage CITF colours. In fact, CITF bus stop flags are still scattered around the city, over 11 years after the company was renamed to STTR!

I am confirming that the charter will start and end at the STTR garage located at 2000 rue Bellefeuille which is located adjacent to the Boulevard des Forges exit from Autoroute 40 (exit 199). Those arriving by car are welcome to park in the employee parking lot (despite signage to the contrary). The departure will take place at 11:00 am sharp so please plan on showing up at 10:45 am the latest. As usual, I will be taking care of registration for the charters, so exact bills are appreciated! Our first stop will be the downtown bus terminal for the timed transfer at 11:15 am. I am mentioning this information in case that someone misses our departure from the garage, but note that there is no free parking directly adjacent to the downtown bus terminal.

Participants are strongly encouraged to tend to their needs (such as dining, WC use, and the like) prior to the charter. Toward the end of the charter, we will have a prolonged photo stop at Terminus Les Rivieres to meet two pulses of buses. At this moment, participants will have ample opportunity (15 mins or so) to use the facilities of the adjacent shopping mall, including the food court.

Working with Felix, we are arranging for optimal sun angles and touring historic landmarks of the city. Felix is a lifelong "Trifluvien" and is especially proud to show us parts of the city that did not suffer through a great fire. We have arranged for a few surprises for the charter. Motorcoach fans will certainly be pleased!

At the end of the charter, we will arrange for a garage tour, but the STTR facilities are small and Felix admits that there is not much to see. This visit is subject to approval from management. We will nevertheless arrange for a bus pullout.

Following this, Felix is inviting us aboard his New Look 8202 (ex-Gatineau, exx-Sherbrooke) for a two to three hour trip around the city. This activity is held independent of the YUL Bus Charter 2013 weekend and as such, there will be a separate payment to ride this bus. After talking to him, we agreed that a fair suggested donation would be $20. Both charters will incorporate some autoroute running for videos; the 8202 charter will cover areas of the city that we might miss with the Classic.

At the end of this charter, participants will be dropped off at the STTR garage. Organized by Felix and I, there will be an optional dinner afterwards taking place at Bravo Pizzeria located at 141 rue St-Antoine in downtown Trois-Rivières. 8202 will be the means of transportation to the restaurant (as cars cannot park downtown for free, yet buses can). I have dined at this restaurant with Felix (who was once a waiter here) and I can attest that this diner offer good value for money, in fact I believe that it is the equivalent of New Verdun restaurant. Interested persons should let us know so that we can make reservations accordingly. After dinner, we will be brought back to the garage with the New Look.

All notices of attendance should be made known to the following email address: yulbuscharters -at- gmail -dot- com whereas questions and comments can be affixed here or via PM.

Thank you for your continued confidence in YUL Bus Charters and we look forward to seeing you soon!

I got a question will this charter be on the 4th or 5th ?
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