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57 minutes ago, Prevost said:

Why is no one buying them? They are pretty new Prevosts....

These are not tour coaches, they get primarily used on the Casino shuttles from Toronto/GTA to Niagara Falls. Drivers will usually do 2 round trips per shift, and the coach will often go out with another driver for another 2 round trips that evening. You're pretty much looking at 1000+ km per day, 7 days a week. As a result, the Safeway buses probably all have very high mileage compared to other coaches of a similar age.

There's a reason Safeway branded coaches used to get swapped out after 3 years. I'm surprised Attridge has held onto their first ones for 5 years, but if they're having trouble selling them, that explains it.

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3 hours ago, Articulated said:

These are not tour coaches, they get primarily used on the Casino shuttles from Toronto/GTA to Niagara Falls. Drivers will usually do 2 round trips per shift, and the coach will often go out with another driver for another 2 round trips that evening. You're pretty much looking at 1000+ km per day, 7 days a week. As a result, the Safeway buses probably all have very high mileage compared to other coaches of a similar age.

There's a reason Safeway branded coaches used to get swapped out after 3 years. I'm surprised Attridge has held onto their first ones for 5 years, but if they're having trouble selling them, that explains it.

I see, makes sense. I remember I rode on a brand new GTA Crew Prevost when I joined Safeway Tours on their 7 days Maritime Tour, it was a nice coach so I think of their coaches as tour coaches haha.

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Oh yes, came across that photo a long time ago, definitely a one-off.

6 hours ago, dev161 said:

Was just browsing the net and came across this ... Never knew Great Canadian used their Setra on Safeway

safeway83836.jpg

Oh yes, came across that photo a long time ago, definitely a one-off.

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On 4/28/2020 at 9:50 PM, Prevost said:

Why is no one buying them? They are pretty new Prevosts....

As someone mentioned, mileage is the issue. The Casino Double runs are about 700 km/day including garage deadhead. The Chinese Tours put on about 800km to 1000 km on the first and last days of the Tour. The Safeway buses do rack up some serious mileage in 4 years of use. So far Coach Canada, Great Canadian Coaches and GTA Crew have found other work for their ex-Safeway buses. Attridge does not do Line Runs, operate their own Tours or have contracts with Air Lines to transport their crew when they land in Toronto.

On 4/29/2020 at 4:06 PM, dev161 said:

Was just browsing the net and came across this ... Never knew Great Canadian used their Setra on Safeway

safeway83836.jpg

Became a blue bus and was sold around 2015/2016. Not sure who bought it.

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  • 2 years later...
6 hours ago, Prevost said:

With the new 2024 Prevost H3-45 being just released recently at the UMA Expo, I wonder when Safeway Tours will negotiate with the bus companies they use to get the new H3-45…

I'm not sure how much pull Safeway Tours has now over the coach operators nowadays, given their service levels (both in Tours and Casino runs) is much reduced compared to pre-COVID time period. Because of the sheer volume of guaranteed work they could provide their coach operator(s), they could bully their way into asking for all sorts of things, such as the "3 years or newer" rule on equipment. I'm not sure they can pull off the same demands now, given both parties are likely still recovering from their severely reduced revenue over the past few years.

Who is Safeway using nowadays? Pacific Western has exited the Toronto market, and I don't know if Coach Canada, Great Canadian, or GTA Crew Services are still being used. GTA in particular has sold off many of their newer Prevosts purchased for the Safeway contract. Attridge for sure is still being used, but to answer the question on equipment, they're still using the same 2016-2018 H3-45 coaches from before the pandemic.

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On Attridge number 6751 that was for Safeway Tours is now numbered 158 in Attridge fleet as is #6972 ex Safeway is numbered 172 in the Attridge fleet. I was able to check the vins on both of these coaches recently.

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On 1/30/2023 at 1:47 PM, Prevost said:

With the new 2024 Prevost H3-45 being just released recently at the UMA Expo, I wonder when Safeway Tours will negotiate with the bus companies they use to get the new H3-45…

I would not get my hopes high on new buses coming this year. You'd be lucky to see Attridge get 2 and Great Canadian get 1!

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On 1/30/2023 at 8:42 PM, Articulated said:

Who is Safeway using nowadays? Pacific Western has exited the Toronto market, and I don't know if Coach Canada, Great Canadian, or GTA Crew Services are still being used. GTA in particular has sold off many of their newer Prevosts purchased for the Safeway contract. Attridge for sure is still being used, but to answer the question on equipment, they're still using the same 2016-2018 H3-45 coaches from before the pandemic.

Based on my sightings from the past few months, it seems like Safeway is still using Attridge, GTA Crew Services, Great Canadian Coaches, as well as VBL Bus Lines. VBL does not seem to use any buses with Safeway Tours livery. The departure screens in Fallsview Casino show the fleet numbers (notice how they all say Coach Canada lol). You can see one fleet number for each of the four operators I listed. The picture of the VBL bus attached is #405 and I've also seen #404 in the past. 

PXL_20221220_235931521.thumb.jpg.0cbc1eff681586b47e0f40ebfc143497.jpgPXL_20221220_235944638.thumb.jpg.6b91dd3cae3efd03787ac3599778995a.jpg

PXL_20221220_222103923.thumb.jpg.85ee145f58ad052465d14df0b9bf55d0.jpg

The fleet numbers on the screen are misleading though. I took the 8:00pm departure to Mississauga that day and got Attridge 6635 instead. This is the suggested departure time for the 13:00 inbound trip from Mississauga, which I got Great Canadian 1833 on. So perhaps those fleet numbers are supposed to be the bus you get on the corresponding inbound trip.

On 1/31/2023 at 2:13 PM, Bernie said:

On Attridge number 6751 that was for Safeway Tours is now numbered 158 in Attridge fleet as is #6972 ex Safeway is numbered 172 in the Attridge fleet. I was able to check the vins on both of these coaches recently.

I've also seen that 6507 is now 143 and 6755 is now 162. 6971 was still running for Safeway when I last saw it on December 10. 

PXL_20221019_181943765.thumb.jpg.06fbf8bebbb6df781981b1b14f42b454.jpg

PXL_20220930_202400181.thumb.jpg.e3c73b48bfce53e81b5f3afa29046166.jpg

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On 1/31/2023 at 10:16 PM, Megabus Rider said:

I would not get my hopes high on new buses coming this year. You'd be lucky to see Attridge get 2 and Great Canadian get 1!

do you know if Flix or should i say Galexy bus tour aquired an ex safeway unit.  I remember seeing a Flix h3-45 with red roof.  I recall seeing a new design MCI Great Canadian the other day.

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1 hour ago, leylandvictory2 said:

do you know if Flix or should i say Galexy bus tour aquired an ex safeway unit.  I remember seeing a Flix h3-45 with red roof.  I recall seeing a new design MCI Great Canadian the other day.

The red Gallexy H3-45 is ex-Autobus Breton 1601. Photographed it in July 2022 still with Breton, then again in October 2022 doing Flixbus.

20220720_214206.thumb.jpg.29db5f79fdd57757a3f30038f32f4c34.jpg20221015_164621.thumb.jpg.da46c40672c9bbbd1ddddcee48950357.jpg

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