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 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.