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Equinox Bus Lines (equinoxbus.com)


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I mentioned in the Megabus Page that Equinox Bus Lines is operating a route between Toronto to Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, ON which stops at Kingston and Gananoque.

After looking at Equinox Bus Lines' website, seems they did mostly Charters and Sightseeing Tours to Niagara Falls, 1000 Islands , New York City and other popular getaway destinations.

So far they operate 2 routes using a similar approach to Megabus in the US by having them identified as route numbers instead of Greyhound schedule numbers which is pretty neat. They have made Toronto has their hub city, again another similar approach to Megabus in the US.

They operate Route E03a which operates between Scarborough - Toronto - Mississauga - Niagara-on-the-lake - Niagara Falls, they seem to do a double run and instead of Scarborough and Mississauga they stop at Pearson Airport which is nice but of course more departures are needed. They operate this route on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

They also operate Route E04a which operates between Mississauga - Toronto - Scarborough - Kingston - Gananoque - Morrisburg and it only operates on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and it looks like a 1 a day departure.

I notice unlike Rider Express, Equinox is not running a duplicate service to Megabus which makes their service unique by serving Gananoque and Morrisburg for both locals and tourists alike and then you have service between Pearson and Niagara Falls, an attempt to bring back a Greyhound run between Pearson and Niagara Falls.

What makes them more unique is they are operating a smaller vehicle which is cautious of them and probably low cost overheads. I would not be surprised if Equinox buys a Motorcoach next year and put it on a profitable route based on using their smaller vehicle.

As for the booking platform, just like Rider Express, Equinox uses Betterez which is user friendly on both PC and Smartphone devices!

Wish this company success and hopefully like what they did to their Niagara Falls and 1000 Islands Tours, they can convert their 30,000 Islands Tour into Scheduled Bus Service and maybe add a route to Tobermory! Its a unique niche to offer Scheduled Bus Service to Tourist Destinations which benefits both locals and tourists alike!

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5 hours ago, Megabus Rider said:

As for the booking platform, just like Rider Express, Equinox uses Betterez which is user friendly on both PC and Smartphone devices!

Betterrez is seeing significant growth with companies working to fill Greyhound's void. They're based in Toronto and Ontario Northland was one of their first customers back in 2012. It will be interesting to see if all the companies using the same ticketing platform can work together, as the system seems capable of selling inter-line tickets.

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7 hours ago, Flalex72 said:

Betterrez is seeing significant growth with companies working to fill Greyhound's void. They're based in Toronto and Ontario Northland was one of their first customers back in 2012. It will be interesting to see if all the companies using the same ticketing platform can work together, as the system seems capable of selling inter-line tickets.

Cold Shot in Alberta and VI Connector in Vancouver Island also use betterez. I believe Orleans also uses betterez too. 

13 hours ago, Megabus Rider said:

I mentioned in the Megabus Page that Equinox Bus Lines is operating a route between Toronto to Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, ON which stops at Kingston and Gananoque.

After looking at Equinox Bus Lines' website, seems they did mostly Charters and Sightseeing Tours to Niagara Falls, 1000 Islands , New York City and other popular getaway destinations.

So far they operate 2 routes using a similar approach to Megabus in the US by having them identified as route numbers instead of Greyhound schedule numbers which is pretty neat. They have made Toronto has their hub city, again another similar approach to Megabus in the US.

They operate Route E03a which operates between Scarborough - Toronto - Mississauga - Niagara-on-the-lake - Niagara Falls, they seem to do a double run and instead of Scarborough and Mississauga they stop at Pearson Airport which is nice but of course more departures are needed. They operate this route on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

They also operate Route E04a which operates between Mississauga - Toronto - Scarborough - Kingston - Gananoque - Morrisburg and it only operates on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and it looks like a 1 a day departure.

I notice unlike Rider Express, Equinox is not running a duplicate service to Megabus which makes their service unique by serving Gananoque and Morrisburg for both locals and tourists alike and then you have service between Pearson and Niagara Falls, an attempt to bring back a Greyhound run between Pearson and Niagara Falls.

What makes them more unique is they are operating a smaller vehicle which is cautious of them and probably low cost overheads. I would not be surprised if Equinox buys a Motorcoach next year and put it on a profitable route based on using their smaller vehicle.

As for the booking platform, just like Rider Express, Equinox uses Betterez which is user friendly on both PC and Smartphone devices!

Wish this company success and hopefully like what they did to their Niagara Falls and 1000 Islands Tours, they can convert their 30,000 Islands Tour into Scheduled Bus Service and maybe add a route to Tobermory! Its a unique niche to offer Scheduled Bus Service to Tourist Destinations which benefits both locals and tourists alike!

Rider Express announced on their FB page effective Aug 16 their gonna run a  service from London to Toronto in AM and back in PM!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Apparently Equinox Bus Lines partnered with Ourbus for their Toronto - Buffalo Airport Run! So Ourbus has now made it into Canada! I noticed with Ourbus you can only book between Toronto (including Scarborough) and Buffalo Airport and, Mississauga and Buffalo Airport but nothing with Niagara Falls, ON except on Equinox Bus Lines' website.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Thought I'll just post it here since Equinox Bus Lines operates with Ourbus. Ourbus has added Boston - Toronto for November 24 and 28, and Toronto - Boston for November 25 and 29. Dattco is shown to be the operator between Toronto and Boston so a Dattco bus will be used for the entire run! This also marks the first time a operator that is operating for 2 competing Tech Companies. Dattco operates for Megabus and now Ourbus!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I am being told Equinox Bus Lines is acquiring a Girardin/Microbird G5 on a Ford E-450 for Ourbus and their Toronto - Buffalo Airport Service. I am also hearing the current Ford Transit will be used on another departure for their Toronto - Buffalo Airport Service with connections to Boston with more than likely, Ourbus. Originally, Equinox Bus Lines was supposed to do service to Rochester Airport, but it's on hold. I am guessing Dattco may do Buffalo - Boston permanently. Also, Equinox Bus Lines is hiring drivers on indeed!

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  • 1 month later...

Just checked Ourbus' website, Equinox Bus Lines is now operating a Toronto - Rochester Direct Service. On the return you can leave NYC at 4:30pm in addition to the current 8:45am departure. Also, Toronto to Boston looks permanent with weekend service including Fridays and Mondays. The Toronto - Boston Service starts February 18 and the operator for the Buffalo - Boston part of the run is Coach Express MA. Should Equinox Bus Lines and Ourbus continue with these outside of the box routes, Greyhound won't last long as a competitor out of Toronto.

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  • 5 weeks later...

The Toronto - Rochester service is on hiatus for now as per the twitter posting.

The Toronto - Boston service has been pushed for a March 10 start.

Noticed the stops on the Toronto - Rochester run were added to the Toronto - Buffalo Run on weekends only. The new stops for Toronto - Buffalo are Yonge and Finch, Toronto Pearson Airport and Burlington (I guess to serve the Hamilton/Milton areas). Guessing Greyhound may notice a slight dip on ridership for weekend runs as Passengers who live/visiting Durham Region, York Region, Peel Region, Hamilton, Milton, Scarborough and North York would book with Equinox Bus Lines/Ourbus. Very smart and interesting!

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  • 9 months later...

Equinox Bus Lines has acquired a 2007 MCI D4505 (Unit E710) former Greyhound Canada 1280.

So far Equinox Bus Lines has 2 buses, with the other being a 2019 Ford/Girardin G5 Minibus (Unit E703) amd both are being used for Ourbus.

My friend told me the 2017 Ford Transit Passenger Van (Unit E702) has been sold.

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Spotted E710 out yesterday; apologies for the grab shot from a GO bus:

52527735354_18c95dbc2b_z.jpg

License plate is BP3 852. Interestingly, despite being Ontario plated its legals are for a US operation based in Batavia, NY...

Earlier this year I also caught their other vehicle, E703 on a departure from Downtown Toronto:
52318111904_20b252dac9_z.jpg

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3 hours ago, Articulated said:

Spotted E710 out yesterday; apologies for the grab shot from a GO bus:

 

License plate is BP3 852. Interestingly, despite being Ontario plated its legals are for a US operation based in Batavia, NY...

Earlier this year I also caught their other vehicle, E703 on a departure from Downtown Toronto:
 

My friend said E710 will be used for a 11:45pm departure from Buffalo Airport and 3:00am departure from Scarborough. My friend said the schedule for those departures would work well if the bus was garaged in Batavia, NY at their US Office and operated by a US Citizen and the service would be closed door in Canada meaning no pick ups and drop offs within Canada. The Canadian Insurance Company will allow US Drivers on their policy and the Canadian Insurance company would do a filing to the US Company's US DOT. For now my friend wants to use Canadian Drivers first before assigning these runs to its US Subsidiary. If the Canadian Drivers experience Hours of Service Issues with these runs then the US Subsidiary will operate these runs. These runs will connect with Niagara Scenic Tours. My friend did set up a US Subsidiary back in June of 2020 when he tried to apply for a regulated license with then OHTB.

My friend says both the CBP and CBSA love E703 as it only seats 20 passengers and lacks overhead racks which allows this bus to clear the border faster than a Motorcoach. It was Ourbus' idea as most riders do hate the Border part of the trip by using a smaller vehicle.  Also for passengers continuing on to NYC, at least only 20 seats on the Fitzgerald Brothers bus are allocated to passengers going to or coming from Canada. My friend mentioned that his loyal riders will only ride E703 because of how fast E703 clears the border, also E703 lacks a on-board restroom so no foul orders to deal with and Niagara Falls, ON stop is a rest stop to allow passengers to use the washroom.

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  • 1 month later...

My friend says himself, Ourbus and Fitzgerald Brothers are in 'serious' talks to do night run between Toronto - NYC. The route is still being discussed as they are debating to serve Ithaca in the middle of the night. This new night run service will also have service with Niagara Scenic Tours so there will be more departures on the Ourbus platform between Toronto - NYC.

Also, both buses are wrapped for Ourbus. You may want to check out E710, it had a 'Route Map theme' of the Toronto - NYC service on the curbside.

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  • 7 months later...

Equinox Bus Lines has announced on their Social Media accounts the 'hand over' of their Toronto - Niagara Falls - Buffalo - Ithaca - NYC route to Onexbus. Onexbus had also signed on with Ourbus and Ourbus should be showing trips from Toronto to Niagara Falls, Kitchener, London and Windsor. Onexbus is in the process of reinstating their US DOT Operating Authority and once that has been completed service to Buffalo University and Buffalo Airport will be restored along with connections to Rochester Airport, Geneva, Ithaca, Binghamton, Pocono Mountains, Fort Lee and NYC.

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8 hours ago, Prevost said:

What business does Equinox have left?

The Minibus E703 had its Catalytic Converter stolen near the end of the Winter Season and the Insurance Company did not want to pay for it. They will be focusing on litigation for the time being. The owners for Equinox Bus and Onexbus go way back.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 10/6/2023 at 12:04 AM, translink fan said:

Any idea if Equinox is still in operation? The website domain expired. Last post on their facebook just notes the transfer of their run to Onex. 

As per my friend: Equinox Bus Lines has handed over it's Line Run operation to Onexbus which is being operated between Toronto and Niagara Falls until Onexbus is able to get its US DOT Operating Authority reinstated. The Charter operation has also been handed over to Onexbus and E710 was transferred over to Onexbus and will be renumber KL(XX) in cooperation of the Lessor. Equinox Bus Lines will be focused on litigation against its Insurance Company in regards to E703's Catalytic Converter being stolen and no claim was paid out. Equinox Bus Lines' US DOT Operating Authority will remain active as Not Authorized for the time being.

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On 10/7/2023 at 9:09 PM, Prevost said:

How can they survive if they don’t have any business (no line run and no charter)?

All I know is they have ended their rent where the buses were parked, cut off the website and phone number. They are still paying rent for the Batavia, NY office and paying out to who is owed. One of the Owners and some of the former Driver(s) are working for Onexbus. I guess the Owners have other source(s) of income. One of the Owners told me a video will be made on what happened.

It's one thing when break downs happen but another when a theft happens and the very insurance company that is handsomely being paid fails to cough up to pay. The Owners tried to run one bus to pay for both buses expenses, it only lasted up to early September until Onexbus was handed over the run.

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