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Life After Greyhound


ns8401

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5 hours ago, Articulated said:

Very interesting. Kasper Transportation currently operates along that corridor, connecting with the northbound Ontario Northland bus from Sault Ste. Marie to Hearst. No connection is currently available to the southbound bus (which stops in White River at 7:10 am); wonder if this Ontario Northland service is to provide a new connection with the southbound, or compete with Kasper meeting the northbound trip.

I didn’t realize that there was service on the Canadian side at Sault Ste. Marie. How long has it been since GLC stopped going there and when did Ontario Northland begin going there?

I actually drive relatively close to there on the U.S. side and send quite a few people to Sault Ste. Marie, MI and some do end up finding their way across the border. Is there any interlining between Ontario Northland, Kasper and GLC whereever they cut back to? Or are these companies all operating strictly as competitors? 

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17 hours ago, ns8401 said:

I didn’t realize that there was service on the Canadian side at Sault Ste. Marie. How long has it been since GLC stopped going there and when did Ontario Northland begin going there?

I actually drive relatively close to there on the U.S. side and send quite a few people to Sault Ste. Marie, MI and some do end up finding their way across the border. Is there any interlining between Ontario Northland, Kasper and GLC whereever they cut back to? Or are these companies all operating strictly as competitors? 

Greyhound would have ceased operation on or slightly before October 31, 2018 - this is the date they cut back all service operating west of Sudbury.

Ontario Northland started operating in 2018. There would have been a brief period of overlap. The reason is that Greyhound had reduced their schedule along this stretch to once-daily a few years before the complete discontinuance of the corridor. The schedule was set up with at least one of the directions where the departure was after midnight, and in the late evening for the opposite direction - not super convenient for travelers. Ontario Northland stepped in to provide daytime service, basically to fill the second daily schedule vacated by Greyhound. It's the same story with service between Sudbury and Ottawa - Ontario Northland operates as a second trip on the corridor outside of Greyhound's scheduled (overnight) hours.

As for Kasper, they have never competed head-to-head with Ontario Northland or Greyhound before, and have made their business primarily on running service on corridors other companies abandoned (therefore with no competition). A while after Greyhound folded, Kasper began operating a route from Thunder Bay to White River. While I do not believe that they offer any sort of interlining or shared ticketing services, they intentionally set their schedule to connect with the northbound Ontario Northland bus at White River.

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2 hours ago, Articulated said:

Greyhound would have ceased operation on or slightly before October 31, 2018 - this is the date they cut back all service operating west of Sudbury.

Ontario Northland started operating in 2018. There would have been a brief period of overlap. The reason is that Greyhound had reduced their schedule along this stretch to once-daily a few years before the complete discontinuance of the corridor. The schedule was set up with at least one of the directions where the departure was after midnight, and in the late evening for the opposite direction - not super convenient for travelers. Ontario Northland stepped in to provide daytime service, basically to fill the second daily schedule vacated by Greyhound. It's the same story with service between Sudbury and Ottawa - Ontario Northland operates as a second trip on the corridor outside of Greyhound's scheduled (overnight) hours.

As for Kasper, they have never competed head-to-head with Ontario Northland or Greyhound before, and have made their business primarily on running service on corridors other companies abandoned (therefore with no competition). A while after Greyhound folded, Kasper began operating a route from Thunder Bay to White River. While I do not believe that they offer any sort of interlining or shared ticketing services, they intentionally set their schedule to connect with the northbound Ontario Northland bus at White River.

And I would hazard an educated guess that they allowed enough wiggle room for somebody to buy a ticket in between the arrival and departure times they lined up with. That’s one way to do it without a partnership I suppose. Does GLC interline with anybody anywhere? GLI has somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 (!) companies it connects to in some form and shares TRIPS with for ticket, though I think they actually charge a fee to use it. 

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Rider Express is taking another crack at a run from Regina to Calgary starting March 13. They will make intermediate stops at Strathmore, Brooks, Medicine Hat, Swift Current and Moose Jaw. They tried this in 2018 right after GLC pulled out but it only lasted a few weeks:

https://www.cjme.com/2020/02/19/rider-express-taking-second-shot-at-regina-to-calgary-bus-route/

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 5/14/2020 at 8:55 AM, traildriver said:

That's great news...so you could now take Ontario Northland all the way from Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie?

You have been able to for a couple of years; service to Sault Ste Marie (and further north to Wawa, White River and Hearst) started in 2017.

The more important note now is that ONTC will be extending west past Thunder Bay and will now be serving Winnipeg with two trips a week, so you can once again travel on one system from Toronto or Ottawa to Winnipeg.

Edited by Articulated
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2 hours ago, Articulated said:

You have been able to for a couple of years; service to Sault Ste Marie (and further north to Wawa, White River and Hearst) started in 2017.

The more important note now is that ONTC will be extending west past Thunder Bay and will now be serving Winnipeg with two trips a day, so you can once again travel on one system from Toronto or Ottawa to Winnipeg.

Even better....thanks for that info!

 

Hopefully some day, you will be able to go all the way across the TCH by bus, with decent connections between whatever carrier's serve it, the way it once was...

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On 5/14/2020 at 8:55 AM, traildriver said:

That's great news...so you could now take Ontario Northland all the way from Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie?

You transfer in North Bay

On 5/14/2020 at 4:48 PM, Articulated said:

You have been able to for a couple of years; service to Sault Ste Marie (and further north to Wawa, White River and Hearst) started in 2017.

The more important note now is that ONTC will be extending west past Thunder Bay and will now be serving Winnipeg with two trips a day, so you can once again travel on one system from Toronto or Ottawa to Winnipeg.

Its twice a week to Winnipeg

 

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12 hours ago, Articulated said:

Oops, got it backwards... caught it in my other post but not this one. Thanks for the correctiom!

I am sure they will have to increase the runs as Greyhound used to run twice daily. I can see them within the next two years having to get it up to daily.

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2 hours ago, TheAverageJoe said:

I am sure they will have to increase the runs as Greyhound used to run twice daily. I can see them within the next two years having to get it up to daily.

Since Ontario Northland is moving west and has stated they will be doing freight all the way to Winnipeg for now passengers but they are in the process of setting up freight agencies along the way including with Maple in Winnipeg. When freight is set up you will be able to send parcels right from Winnipeg into the Maritimes.

 

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Tofino Bus has filed to abandon part of its route on the northern portion of Vancouver Island from Campbell River to Port Hardy citing low ridership, averaging 6 passengers per trip and a loss of $173,000 Canadian in 2019. A decision is expected very soon.

https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/north-island-communities-might-lose-daily-bus-link-low-ridership-cited-1.24140300

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On 5/14/2020 at 12:39 AM, ns8401 said:

Looks like Ontario Northlands Thunder Bay-Sault St. Marie Service will be starting Sunday after being delayed due to the pandemic:

https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/ontario-northland-bus-service-to-start-regional-routes-this-weekend-2348486

I believe ONT is making an attempt to try and line the schedules up so u can go Winnipeg to Sudbury and continue to Toronto or Ottawa from their. And whoever intelines in Winnipeg would be wise to do it going west too, but hey as long as theirs some kinda connection im sure itll work.

8 hours ago, ns8401 said:

Tofino Bus has filed to abandon part of its route on the northern portion of Vancouver Island from Campbell River to Port Hardy citing low ridership, averaging 6 passengers per trip and a loss of $173,000 Canadian in 2019. A decision is expected very soon.

https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/north-island-communities-might-lose-daily-bus-link-low-ridership-cited-1.24140300

They run that trip daily...and I think they use a mid size coach? But pretty sure that run could of made out with a sprinter type vehicle running 3 days a week or so. No one has ever operated that service less than daily. 

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27 minutes ago, roeco said:

They run that trip daily...and I think they use a mid size coach? But pretty sure that run could of made out with a sprinter type vehicle running 3 days a week or so. No one has ever operated that service less than daily. 

They use a full-size coach, either a Prevost H3-41/H3-45 or MCI 102-DL3 from my observations last summer. Problem is that the run starts/ends further south in Nanaimo and/or Victoria, so you can't just run a van or Sprinter unless you force a transfer in Campbell River.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/24/2020 at 4:53 PM, Articulated said:

They use a full-size coach, either a Prevost H3-41/H3-45 or MCI 102-DL3 from my observations last summer. Problem is that the run starts/ends further south in Nanaimo and/or Victoria, so you can't just run a van or Sprinter unless you force a transfer in Campbell River.

Yep and the way they have the schedule set up right now it could be done no problem with a transfer in Campbell River from full size coach to smaller vehicle. And operate 3 days a week. I believe they even have a driver that is based in Port Hardy runs to CR turns around goes back. Wilsons did express   that their was an interested party that may want to operate the service out of Port Hardy and that they could use the CR depot so either way its gonna be a transfer.

 

On 5/23/2020 at 8:02 AM, ns8401 said:

Mountain Man has applied to run a route from Kelowna to Osoyoos on Highway 97:

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story-300727-21-.htm

yep I could see Silver City opposing it  but MMM is looking to connect people all the way from Kelowna via Penticton to Osoyoos to Calgary and Vancouver which Silver City cant do. 

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  • 4 months later...

The Greyhound terminal built at Winnipeg airport about a decade ago, funded in part by a government grant to promote intermodal connectivity, has been demolished.

The building, owned by the Winnipeg Airport Authority, had been vacant since Greyhound's exit from western Canada.

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  • 7 months later...

This was essentially what Greyhound was asking for.   I hope these companies have better luck than Greyhound did.

Maybe they will, based on this article which was in a link from that one...   

https://www.timescolonist.com/business/island-bus-lines-get-3-35-million-to-keep-inter-city-routes-running-1.24301500?utm_campaign=magnet&utm_source=article_page&utm_medium=related_articles

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