Christmas Overloads

[Prevost]

Spotted a brand new 2012 Charter Bus Lines of British Columbia doing a Greyhound overload run as it was pulling into the Central Train Station in Vancouver. I wonder why Charter Bus Lines didn't give Greyhound an older Prevost instead of one of their brand new buses.

[CBL-H345 Driver]

Spotted a brand new 2012 Charter Bus Lines of British Columbia doing a Greyhound overload run as it was pulling into the Central Train Station in Vancouver. I wonder why Charter Bus Lines didn't give Greyhound an older Prevost instead of one of their brand new buses.

CBL doesn't own any 2012 Prevost at this time. 2011 you mean?

Buses are made to make money. New or old, wheels turning means income.

[kevlo86]

Within the past 24 hours at the Calgary terminal spotted the following:

CBL H3-45 923

Golden Arrow MCI J4500 #618

Moose Mountain MCI D4505 #104

National H3-45 193

Sun West H3-45 #117

Thompson Valley Charters MCI 102C3 943 (Ex-GLC 943)

[Articulated]

The following coaches were at the Toronto Coach Terminal yesterday (Friday December 23rd) doing overflow trips:

Dallas Coach #2724 - departed TCT around 8:45am

Dallas Coach #2623 - arrived at TCT around 9:05am - I heard this one later went to Ottawa

Nationways #1102 - departed TCT sometime after 9am bound for Ottawa

Cullingford Coaches #66 - was the overflow unit for 1102 (no picture)

Kunkel #507 - departed TCT at 12:25pm

Cherrey Coach Lines #306 and #507 - both started loading for Coach Canada overflow trips around 12:30pm

Hammond #290 - arrived at TCT around 12:20pm, later did a trip to Barrie in the afternoon

Denny's #2100 - on layover near the terminal over the noon hour

Ethier #ETH-06 and ETH-09 - in the Arrivals terminal around 12:30pm, assuming they were Coach Canada overflows from Quebec (no decent pics)

[* Mr. Black *]

Great picture of me putting in some work in Dallas 2623!! I deadheaded out to Ottawa to be the 4pm Toronto Express. The Cullingford MC9 left Ottawa at 2:30 Pm as a Toronto Express as well....

[roeco]

Mervs fun bus from Gp did an overload on 23 at 215 out of Gp and returned on the midnight on 24th into Gp. Also the 2pm on 23 overloaded with Golden Arrow...total of 82 people. Also the midnight on 22 overloaded with Luciak and they cut it in Fox Creek cause it was needed back in Edmonton for another overload.

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

Within the past 24 hours at the Calgary terminal spotted the following:

CBL H3-45 923

Golden Arrow MCI J4500 #618

Moose Mountain MCI D4505 #104

National H3-45 193

Thompson Valley Charters MCI 102C3 943 (Ex-GLC 943)

Yep! Saw Thompson #943 (ex-Greyhound 943) at the Calgary Depot early yesterday afternoon at around 1300:

[Shaun]

We had a driver cushion from Grande Prairie to Dawson Creek doing extra board to pick up a bus and follow the regular to Ft Nelson arrival 145pm and overload the one coming down from Whitehorse at 3am going to Dawson Creek,apparently they only had 4 seats left as of yesterdayaccording to Trips out of Ft Nelson. And they still had all day today to sell tickets. Been Seein pretty Heavy Loads out of Grande Prairie, but no overloads yet.

I guess it's a matter if it runs, send it out! All hands on deck!

[PHATMATT]

Well its been pretty busy down here in the Chatham area. On friday(12:45pm) had 3 from london to windsor(2 greyhounds and badder bus 1308)and 2 from windsor to london(both grehound). Have been getting older buses 10xx series none of the refurbs or US units in a while. Today both East and West buses where pretty packed. They are now sending most of the buses straight through from london to windsor and vise versa when needed.

[Michel]

Groupe Galland 490 is doing Ottawa - Montreal runs today.

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

Spotted Mouse Mountain J4500 #86 parked at the Greyhound Depot in Calgary earlier today. It was parked in among other Greyhound coaches so I assume it was working the early part of Christmas overloads.

[roeco]

I'm hearing that Saskatoon midnight left with 2 sections on Tues night...If they have even 10 people over it should be another bus, cause what do u do with leftover people, is Greyhound gonna put them up in a hotel til 130 pm the next day?

Saskatoon is one schedule Greyhound has dropped the ball on, the midnight overloads 90% of the time at norm, so they should plan on sending at least 2 if not 3 buses on that schedule every night during christmas.

[Shaun]

Yeah right. If the bus is full you have to wait till the next bus. If the next bus is in the morning, then that's too bad. End of story.

You are lucky if you get another bus. First come first serve.

[Oc4526]

Yeah right. If the bus is full you have to wait till the next bus. If the next bus is in the morning, then that's too bad. End of story.

You are lucky if you get another bus. First come first serve.

That may be true however.

"When Greyhound fills a regularly scheduled bus with passengers during times of peak demand, Greyhound plans for additional buses to accommodate passengers beyond the seating capacity of a single bus for any given schedule. However, our ability to add extra sections depends on the availability of buses, drivers and the number of passengers."

[roeco]

Yes this is true in some cases...I know Edmonton-Saskatoon midnight they have planned extra sections...same with Calgary-East and some Calgary-Vancouver schedules....thats a no brainer planning extra on ur high capacity runs. The only issues that seem to be happening is u get buses running late...up here its the norm pretty much...like last night our Grande Prairie 545am left at 430pm, and the 215 left at reg.time the 545 am ended up being a charter...long story...but the passengers who came into Edmonton on the charter and it had passengers making connections for the midnight calgary schedules...and the 8pm from Edmonton was booked solid...So they ended up using the driver that came in from Fort mac who I think overloaded 5192 and did pretty much an Express to the city,left to do an express run leaving Edmonton at 1030pm to Calgary and just held the schedules in Calgary. That was a smart move...and really their was no other option available.

I'm hearing that Saskatoon midnight left with 2 sections on Tues night...If they have even 10 people over it should be another bus, cause what do u do with leftover people, is Greyhound gonna put them up in a hotel til 130 pm the next day?

Saskatoon is one schedule Greyhound has dropped the ball on, the midnight overloads 90% of the time at norm, so they should plan on sending at least 2 if not 3 buses on that schedule every night during christmas.

Greyhound needs to seriously look at the Edmonton to Saskatoon schedule and do a major revamp on it..cause its causing alot of issues out of Edmonton heading East..Like they should maybe do a Greyhound Express run to Saskatoon..that would be a smart move on their part. Leaving Edmonton at 630-7am arr in Stoon at noon, and change 5409 to and Express run and add a new 430-5pm run out of Saskatoon arriving into Edmonton by 1045pm....something in that form could work!

by adding a day schedule and doin a Saskatoon Express they could pickup alot of passengers that they didnt previously have. especially STC transfers to/from Edmonton. Saskatoon is an ideal candidate for an Express schedule!

[roeco]

Wow so crazy with overloads and late schedules. Our 1145pm left at 245am with eta into Ed at 8am. Has 18 pass for calgary and 8am is already full. Saskatoon to Winnipeg is running 3 sections all the time using Maxies out of Saskatoon for the overloads.

[Articulated]

Christmas Eve is traditionally the busiest day for coach travel, and today was no exception - the Toronto Coach Terminal was buzzing with activity.

Dallas Coach 2425 did the 12:35 Greyhound Express (premium service, ha!) to London by itself; Cullingford Coaches 66 did an overflow for Greyhound; 1089 (the 102-D3 transferred from the US, not the original Canadian unit) was on standby for the 12:15 to Vancouver, but 1149 and its trailer 3044 was able to handle the demand.

Overflow buses were more common on runs by other companies today: Coach Canada 53468/53470 did the 11:30 to St. Catharines/Welland; Coach Canada 53475/83111 did the 12:30 to Niagara Falls/Fallsview Casino; Ontario Northland even had 5042/5216 paired going from Toronto towards North Bay/Cochrane, 5011 to Sudbury/Timmins (all 3 leaving at 2:15), and 5015 shadowed the three units up to Barrie in case it was needed.

[airwolf]

CBL ran both the regular and the overload on schedule 5004 on December 23rd leaving Vancouver at 18:15 destined for Calgary. 947 ran as the regular. I didn't catch the number for the overload. Meanwhile on December 24th, CBL 938 ran overload from PG to Kamloops on schedule 5033, continuing to Vancouver as an overload on schedule 5409. CBL 941 ran as the regular on schedule 5014 returning to Vancouver today on schedule 5001. CBL 934 ran as the regular on schedule 5084 from Vancouver to Mt. Currie. ISL 5601 ran as an overload running 1hour 45 minuntes late on schedule 5002 from Vancouver to Kamloops.

[A. Wong]

A friend did not have a great experience with Greyhound...

"I sat for 1.5 hrs waiting for my bus. I find out the bus is full, stuck somewhere else with no driver. Greyhound depot closing in 10 mins so well be locked in with no knowledge of when our bus will arrive. Then, because I booked online I get no refund. All of this information was not only unsatisfactory but not volunteered until I questioned what was going and pushed for info. Wow."

[airwolf]

We on the front lines are VERY upset about these serious service failures as well. Unfortunately there is not much I can comment on regarding this issue. But I can tell you that the union is giving us instructions to forward these stories to our union secretary in order to make sure that the person responsible for dealing with these issues hears each and every story.

[A. Wong]

Sorry to hear about all the issues.

One of the reply comments was not very good either:

"The last three times Geoff has had to take greyhound to prince george have been horror stories....the last time was the worst, the driver actually fell asleep and crossed the centre line on it's way tothe ditch.....will walk before EVER think of taking them....he booked online and when he complained, he got his money back, it took almost a month but they DID finally send it..... Good luck with your battle"

Anyway, everyone is recommending the competitor Red Arrow for this Alberta trip.

[ShermanOaks]

Busy at the Winnipeg Depot during holiday season; Beaver Bus Lines provided three sections for overload relief before Christmas Day, Greyhound has been deadheading a few of it's own to Brandon for inbound overloads from the west, and Whiteline Charters of Whitewood, SK helping GLC/1182 on the 10:30am schedule (WPG-CAL) today.

[ShermanOaks]

Brandon Bus Lines 915 departing with overload passengers shortly after GLC/1273 left fully loaded on the 10:30am schedule (WPG-CAL) today.

[Les Broughton]

Christmas on the island was an absolute disaster, got left behind in Duncan on Boxing Day 1345 departure as were 20 other people, a number of whom had prebought tickets were passed up, driver just boarded the people closest to the bus. Ticket agency closed that day. I came back for the 1605 departure, was first there, and got everybody lined up and all but 8 boarded.

This was a completely aviodable situation, if the drivers still had the green light to arrange taxi overloads, and at 25 dollars per passenger ticket for Duncan to Vic, a minimal cost to Greyhound. But apparently they don't, and there is no dispatcher on the island to deal with such things.

Subsequently talked to a driver, and he tells me they are given absolutely no clue as to what tickets have been presold for midpoints on the route.

[canuck600]

It's almost that time of the year again so I thought I would revive the thread. I'm hoping for the sake of the drivers and tickets agents that Greyhound doesn't have a repeat of last Christmas. Expecting things to start getting busy this weekend so post what you're seeing.