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- Thread starter Jonny5
- Start date
tmlittle
Active Member
You'd hope we'd do better with it than we've done with a national train system...
Garuda
Active Member
Found a white whale in Guelph today
tmlittle
Active Member
So it does exist! I never truly believed it.
ShonTron
Moderator
Though it has yet to resume operations in Ontario and Quebec, Greyhound Canada announced that it will no longer be serving the Downtown Ottawa bus terminal.
Greyhound is the only intercity coach carrier to completely suspend services. TOK (formerly Can-Ar) still runs its Toronto-Haliburton and Toronto-Port Elgin buses; Northland and Megabus (Coach Canada) are operating on reduced schedules. Intercommunity routes such as Ride Norfolk, T:GO, GOST, Grey Transit Route, Quinte Access, Simcoe Linx, and Strathroy-Caradoc's London-Sarnia routes are operating as well.
Before abandoning Western Canada, Greyhound moved out of the downtowns of Winnipeg, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Regina in favour of airport locations (YWG and YQR), a remote VIA station (Edmonton), and a truck stop (Saskatoon).
It's as if Greyhound does all it can to just die.
Greyhound is the only intercity coach carrier to completely suspend services. TOK (formerly Can-Ar) still runs its Toronto-Haliburton and Toronto-Port Elgin buses; Northland and Megabus (Coach Canada) are operating on reduced schedules. Intercommunity routes such as Ride Norfolk, T:GO, GOST, Grey Transit Route, Quinte Access, Simcoe Linx, and Strathroy-Caradoc's London-Sarnia routes are operating as well.
Before abandoning Western Canada, Greyhound moved out of the downtowns of Winnipeg, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Regina in favour of airport locations (YWG and YQR), a remote VIA station (Edmonton), and a truck stop (Saskatoon).
It's as if Greyhound does all it can to just die.
ShonTron
Moderator
GOST is the Voyago-operated route that got the Owen Sound contract for service along Highway 6, though Kasper (which lost the bid) started first. Kasper has since suspended that route once COVID hit.
Northern Light
Superstar
For clarity, not a like for content; but because @ShonTron is an excellent source of news on inter-city bus services in this country!
Garuda
Active Member
After taking Bla Bla Bus (formerly Ouibus) in Europe last winter and using its super easy booking site, Greyhound deserves to die. For a few reasons:
- You have to print a ticket and hand it to the driver. For bla bla bus i had a QR code and they double checked me name on a electronic manifest.
- The booking website is stuck in the year 2000 with no interactive map or attempt to use GIS Trip planning/ data
- The stations are terrible (not entirely Greyhound issue) I used to take the bus out of Peterborough.
tmlittle
Active Member
What kills me is that there is a marked difference between taking Greyhound in the United States and in Canada -- in the US there's an app and reward points system, automated ticket machines, things like that. It feels much more modern. Greyhound Canada felt stuck in the 1980s.
kEiThZ
Superstar
This is actually a good thing. That terminal and location sucks.
ShonTron
Moderator
I don't disagree with the second sentence. The location, while central, is convenient only to The Queensway (417), which was the point back when it was built, with the public entrances facing the highway, and the wrong way to the city centre. In the 1960s, it wouldn't have mattered much but by the time the Transitway was built, the transit system did a better job serving the VIA station than the more central bus station. I remember a miserable walk in the night rain on my only time taking a bus to Ottawa (the Northland coach, from Pembroke) because it was otherwise a 20-something wait for a bus to get me close to my hotel, and I was too cheap to pay for a cab.
Garuda
Active Member
With the LRT up and running the train station is a great location for the bus terminal. Hopefully Ontario Northland and others will make the move.
ShonTron
Moderator
I’m sure it could be done with only minor modifications. Having bus and rail at the same location could provide enough clientele for a decent coffee shop or even a proper restaurant, never mind the potential connections between ON buses serving the Ottawa Valley and trains to Montreal and Toronto.
Garuda
Active Member
Oh my gosh yes!!!!
However the NCC owns the station and given their incompetence running things (Anyone who has lived in Ottawa will tell you this; read this for more details NCC Watch) I doubt they would properly recruit for a decent restaurant or cafe.
The parking area to the west of the station would be a good place to set a bus layover area up.
fun fact: Air France/KLM run a free shuttle bus for passengers on their flights from Ottawa station instead of the bus station downtown to YUL. It’s very popular when I was there.
ShonTron
Moderator
I've been working on an interactive map showing all current intercity services, as well as rural transit agencies.
With such a patchwork of new services, each operated to serve local needs, rather than as a network, it's hard to keep track. Some services operate on a daily or at least a weekday schedule. Others run infrequently.
spmarshall.maps.arcgis.com
Before I publish it, I wanted to see if there's anything I missed, or any feedback I can incorporate. Enjoy!
With such a patchwork of new services, each operated to serve local needs, rather than as a network, it's hard to keep track. Some services operate on a daily or at least a weekday schedule. Others run infrequently.
ArcGIS Web Application
spmarshall.maps.arcgis.com
Before I publish it, I wanted to see if there's anything I missed, or any feedback I can incorporate. Enjoy!