FlixBus

[Megabus Rider]

On 11/5/2022 at 10:47 AM, West Island Transit Fan said:

It might be this, a friend spotted it at Union last Saturday. Fleet number is 9651 which is similar to Skyway's numbering scheme.

 

That looks like it. There is also another one with the Flixbus wrap.

[West Island Transit Fan]

Gallexy Tours seems to have acquired more old and used coaches for Flix. 

GT0297: Ex UC Coach Lines and AZ Bus Tours 3807, 2006 H3-45.

600: Ex UC Coach Lines 600 and AZ Bus Tours 3823, also a 2006 H3-45. Lots of remains of the NGH Tours livery as you can see.

 

[Shaun]

With all of these carriers running from Toronto to Ottawa, I don't think there is that much demand. But Megabus has gone downhill since the pandemic with the bottom of the barrel passengers riding it. If I can't take the train my next choice would be red arrow. Seems to be the most decent among the other carriers. 

[roeco]

On 12/18/2022 at 5:32 PM, Shaun said:

With all of these carriers running from Toronto to Ottawa, I don't think there is that much demand. But Megabus has gone downhill since the pandemic with the bottom of the barrel passengers riding it. If I can't take the train my next choice would be red arrow. Seems to be the most decent among the other carriers. 

Rider Express is a good option too on that corridor.

[Gerbil]

Skyway 9623 was doing the Toronto to London route today. Seems like a new acquisition. It's ex-McCoy 222.

I also saw 9619 doubling for 9611 on a Windsor-Toronto-Ottawa run Friday afternoon.

[leylandvictory2]

On 12/18/2022 at 7:32 PM, Shaun said:

With all of these carriers running from Toronto to Ottawa, I don't think there is that much demand. But Megabus has gone downhill since the pandemic with the bottom of the barrel passengers riding it. If I can't take the train my next choice would be red arrow. Seems to be the most decent among the other carriers. 

book a ride is pretty bad. the bus showed up at Scarborough town centre half an hour late.  

[Shaun]

1 minute ago, leylandvictory2 said:

book a ride is pretty bad. the bus showed up at Scarborough town centre half an hour late.  

That's not bad, considering traffic on the DVP can be pretty bad. 

 

Greyhound was no better.

[leylandvictory2]

9 minutes ago, Shaun said:

That's not bad, considering traffic on the DVP can be pretty bad. 

 

Greyhound was no better.

well flix bus, red arrow and rider actually showed up on time on the day i was there.

[Articulated]

2 hours ago, leylandvictory2 said:

well flix bus, red arrow and rider actually showed up on time on the day i was there.

Same story here as well; on the day I was hanging around Scarborough Centre  all the eastbound departures were on time except for Book-A-Ride, where the two late morning trips were both 30-45 minutes late despite Toronto being the originating city. Their westbound arrivals in the afternoon were also showing up at completely random times that I couldn't reconcile with their online schedule, despite the other companies showing up relatively on time.

[ns8401]

18 hours ago, Articulated said:

Same story here as well; on the day I was hanging around Scarborough Centre  all the eastbound departures were on time except for Book-A-Ride, where the two late morning trips were both 30-45 minutes late despite Toronto being the originating city. Their westbound arrivals in the afternoon were also showing up at completely random times that I couldn't reconcile with their online schedule, despite the other companies showing up relatively on time.

Keep in mind that a schedule is nothing more than a guide. It’s not gospel or anything. This is one of the top issues I have with passengers. “It said I would be here at 5!”… as if the schedule constitutes a promise and us getting there at 530 or 545 is a calamity. Then they plan their day to have 15 minutes between what the schedule says and where they need to be and blame me for being behind. In the world of city buses it would be bad to be that late but OTR? Nah… 30 minutes or less late is on time basically. Most terms and conditions make a bunch of exceptions for all kinds of unknown events. Basically any company is promising they will get you there and nothing more. We even go so far as to not use the term “late”… it’s “off schedule” instead. 
 

If Scarborough Centre is fairly close to Toronto then the bus probably didn’t leave its origin on time either. Could be a bus issue or drivers not being rested and ready to drive (Greyhound is world famous for this) or issues with a passenger previous to wherever you are or taking on a wheelchair or an accident on the highway you name it it could have happened. 

[Megabus Rider]

19 hours ago, Articulated said:

Same story here as well; on the day I was hanging around Scarborough Centre  all the eastbound departures were on time except for Book-A-Ride, where the two late morning trips were both 30-45 minutes late despite Toronto being the originating city. Their westbound arrivals in the afternoon were also showing up at completely random times that I couldn't reconcile with their online schedule, despite the other companies showing up relatively on time.

My friend reported the same thing with Scarborough to Downtown Toronto. The departure time from Scarborough is 7:40am and the departure time from Downtown Toronto is 8:10am. Mondays to Thursdays the trip falls behind 20 to 30 minutes because of traffic on the Don Valley Parkway. My friend tried other detours such as using McCowan to Lawrence to DVP, or Brimley to Lawrence to DVP or Ellesmere to Victoria Park to Eglinton to DVP, they just can't beat the traffic. In the end my friend just allowed the Drivers to use the Go Bus Lanes on the DVP but that only makes up 6 minutes and then it would just crawl from Eglinton to Bloor or Don Mills. As for northbound DVP, heavy traffic starts at Don Mills to York Mills.

[West Island Transit Fan]

The schedule for Book a Ride seems ridiculously tight as well. It's given the least amount of run time while making the most stops out of all the carriers. Let's look at a Sunday morning trip from downtown Toronto to downtown Ottawa, Ottawa VIA, or St Laurent station on each as an example.

• Megabus 8:15 via Scarborough and Kingston: 5h45m.
• Flixbus 8:00 via Scarborough and Kingston: 5h30m.
• Red Arrow 8:45 via Scarborough and Kingston: 5h15m.
• Rider Express 9:30 via Scarborough, Belleville, Kingston, Ottawa Pinecrest: 5h15m. 
• Book a Ride 9:30 via Scarborough, Whitby, Belleville, Kingston, Brockville, Ottawa Bayshore: 5h00m.

Edited January 22, 2023 by West Island Transit Fan
Rider should be 5h15m not 5h00m

[ns8401]

10 hours ago, West Island Transit Fan said:

The schedule for Book a Ride seems ridiculously tight as well. It's given the least amount of run time while making the most stops out of all the carriers. Let's look at a Sunday morning trip from downtown Toronto to downtown Ottawa, Ottawa VIA, or St Laurent station on each as an example.

• Megabus 8:15 via Scarborough and Kingston: 5h45m.
• Flixbus 8:00 via Scarborough and Kingston: 5h30m.
• Red Arrow 8:45 via Scarborough and Kingston: 5h15m.
• Rider Express 9:30 via Scarborough, Belleville, Kingston, Ottawa Pinecrest: 5h00m. 
• Book a Ride 9:30 via Scarborough, Whitby, Belleville, Kingston, Brockville, Ottawa Bayshore: 5h00m.

If there was some kind of interlining involved so that you tweaked the schedule to get around another carrier that would be more understandable. But this is more like wishful thinking or no traffic thinking. It may be one of those things you can do on Christmas Day at 4am with the whole road to yourself. 

[ns8401]

Flix has moved their Fort Myers, Florida stop to the Edison Mall starting February 9. This stop is on 3 different routes:

St. Petersburg-Miami

Orlando International Airport-Miami

Tallahassee-Miami International Airport 

https://www.gulfshorebusiness.com/gb_daily/flixbus-to-move-fort-myers-stop-to-edison-mall/

[ns8401]

Flix has reported record revenues just north of a Billion dollars in 2022 and expects 20% growth in 2023. 
 

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/flixbus-greyhound-owner-reports-record-revenue-forecasts-20-growth-2023-2023-02-15/

[Gerbil]

McCoy Bus Service is going to be operating a Flixbus service from Kingston to Kitchener via Toronto starting March 2. It's going to be Thursday-Monday. Return is at 1:45 pm from UWaterloo, arriving in Kingston at 7pm.

Skyway Coach Lines is doing a new route from Toronto to Detroit, also starting March 2. It runs Thursday-Monday, with the return at 3:45 pm, reaching Scarborough at 10:25pm.

[Rapidbus]

40 minutes ago, Gerbil said:

McCoy Bus Service is going to be operating a Flixbus service from Kingston to Kitchener via Toronto starting March 2. It's going to be Thursday-Monday (return is at 1:45 pm from UWaterloo, arriving in Kingston at 7pm.

Skyway Coach Lines is doing a new route from Toronto to Detroit, also starting March 2. It runs Thursday-Monday, with the return at 3:45 pm, reaching Scarborough at 10:25pm.

That trip seem to also connect with Greyhound on the Michigan side. 
 

It would mean that Flix moved to the same terminal (assuming GH)

[Chris W]

On 2/22/2023 at 10:30 PM, Gerbil said:

McCoy Bus Service is going to be operating a Flixbus service from Kingston to Kitchener via Toronto starting March 2. It's going to be Thursday-Monday. Return is at 1:45 pm from UWaterloo, arriving in Kingston at 7pm.

Skyway Coach Lines is doing a new route from Toronto to Detroit, also starting March 2. It runs Thursday-Monday, with the return at 3:45 pm, reaching Scarborough at 10:25pm.

From this I can assume that the Waterloo one is to fill in the gap between the Gallexy departures, presumably with the schedule number 2706.

[ns8401]

On 2/22/2023 at 11:11 PM, Rapidbus said:

That trip seem to also connect with Greyhound on the Michigan side. 
 

It would mean that Flix moved to the same terminal (assuming GH)

Yes. Actually a State owned facility that Michigan is trying to make “neutral”. This aligns FLIX/Greyhound to compete with the Trailways/Indian Trails service directly. With all the service increases and Miller pulling its two buses out after April 3 when Trailways launches Detroit will go from 22 buses a day now to 42 (14 Greyhound, 4 Barons, 12 Indian Trails, 4 FLIX, 8 Trailways). It’s actually going to be busier at that point then when I started in 2017 when passenger levels were higher. 
 

It will feed Greyhound’s 4pm departure to Chicago and then the 250pm arrival from Chicago will feed it. FLIX’s offering from Detroit to Chicago leaves at 945am and the counterpart arrives at 910pm so they won’t connect. 

[Rapidbus]

23 hours ago, ns8401 said:

Yes. Actually a State owned facility that Michigan is trying to make “neutral”. This aligns FLIX/Greyhound to compete with the Trailways/Indian Trails service directly. With all the service increases and Miller pulling its two buses out after April 3 when Trailways launches Detroit will go from 22 buses a day now to 42 (14 Greyhound, 4 Barons, 12 Indian Trails, 4 FLIX, 8 Trailways). It’s actually going to be busier at that point then when I started in 2017 when passenger levels were higher. 
 

It will feed Greyhound’s 4pm departure to Chicago and then the 250pm arrival from Chicago will feed it. FLIX’s offering from Detroit to Chicago leaves at 945am and the counterpart arrives at 910pm so they won’t connect. 

The beauty of competition, it keeps Greyhound on its toes to not treat passengers like cargo. Wonder what Greyhound is going to do in northern Michigan. They are cross honoring w/Amtrak to Lansing and Flint, but I wonder if they/Flix will run anything themselves (to spite IT)

Now that Flix, and Greyhound is one company, the Flix Canadian network seem to compliment pretty neatly with the GH trip on the Michigan side, replacing some of the service GLC abandoned

[ns8401]

11 minutes ago, Rapidbus said:

The beauty of competition, it keeps Greyhound on its toes to not treat passengers like cargo. Wonder what Greyhound is going to do in northern Michigan. They are cross honoring w/Amtrak to Lansing and Flint, but I wonder if they/Flix will run anything themselves (to spite IT)

Now that Flix, and Greyhound is one company, the Flix Canadian network seem to compliment pretty neatly with the GH trip on the Michigan side, replacing some of the service GLC abandoned

Carr’s (one of the two companies tag teaming in the Detroit-Chicago run for FLIX, the other is Voights) has been approached to run to Grand Rapids from Detroit. So they want war. Outside of that everything north of Grand Rapids-Lansing-Bay City is state funded and the contract is up for bidding again in 2024. Historically Greyhound always tries to get it at least. 

[ns8401]

FLIX is considering taking itself public through an IPO:

https://www.brusselstimes.com/382382/flixbus-considers-going-public-following-record-revenues

[ns8401]

Looks like FLIX will be launching a Detroit-East Lansing-Grand Rapids service operated by Carr’s Motorcoach starting March 16. They will be using the FLIX stop at Grand Circus Park in Downtown Detroit rather than the Greyhound station the Chicago and Toronto runs use. This will be one bus a day Thursday thru Monday operation like the other two runs. 
 

 

[ns8401]

The FLIX runs from Toronto-Detroit and return and Detroit-Chicago and return have also reverted back to using the curbside Grand Circus Park stop. They used the station for 5 days and I assume somebody from the State of Michigan told them to knock it off. Given their recent track record they probably didn't clear it properly first. This means no Greyhound connections to FLIX and vice versa in Detroit for now.

[ns8401]

Skyway 9623 On the return trip to Toronto seen in Detroit today. The driver said this issue is indeed temporary while they resolve some paperwork issues with the state, should be a week to 10 days before they return to the Detroit Station.