Greyhound Canada
 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent | FirstGroup plc |
| Founded | 1929 |
| Headquarters |
1111 International Blvd, Burlington, Ontario |
| Service area | Canada |
| Service type | Intercity coach service |
| Alliance |
Greyhound Lines, USA Adirondack Trailways |
| Destinations | 1,200+ |
| Stations | 1,100+ |
| Fleet | 480 |
| Website | www.greyhound.ca |
Greyhound Canada[1] (registered as Greyhound Canada Transportation ULC) is the prominent operator of inter-city coach services in Canada. Greyhound Canada is a subsidiary of British transport company FirstGroup plc, linked with Dallas-based Greyhound Lines (also known as Greyhound USA).
History
In 1929, Greyhound Canada was founded as Canadian Greyhound Coaches, Limited, operating first in BC and then Alberta.[2] It merged with Greyhound USA in 1935 and split after Greyhound Canada was sold in 1987. It was not until Laidlaw's purchase of the Canadian operations in 1987 and U.S. operations in 1999 did the two operations link up again. Toronto area routes and some buses were acquired from Gray Coach in 1991. In 1998, Greyhound purchased Quebec-based Voyageur Colonial Bus Lines, and, shortly afterward, bought Central Ontario's Penetang-Midland Coach Lines, thus gaining a foothold in the South-Central Ontario region.
Routes
Regular service
Greyhound Canada's scheduled bus service operates in eight of Canada's provinces and territories (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Yukon).
Connections to US destinations are available, primarily through Greyhound USA, although there is direct service to New York City, Detroit and other cities in states bordering Canada via Greyhound Canada.
For travel into areas not served by Greyhound, passengers may need to transfer onto other bus lines which have inter-line agreements with Greyhound:
- Pacific Coach Lines
- Orléans Express
- Maritime Bus
- Adirondack Trailways
- Grey Goose Bus Lines (a Greyhound subsidiary)
- Saskatchewan Transportation Company
- Edmonton Yellow Cab (Edmonton)
- Gray Line Banff
- Frontier Coach Lines (Yellowknife, Fort Simpson and Fort Smith, NWT)
QuickLink
In Southern Ontario, Greyhound operates a commuter service known as 'QuickLink Commuter Service'.[3] A list of cities served by this service:
- Toronto
- Barrie
- Belleville
- Cambridge
- Grimsby
- Guelph
- Kitchener
- London
- Niagara Falls
- Peterborough
- St Catharines
NeOn
NeOn, a discount service based on the same model used for BoltBus in the United States, and competing with Megabus, is a service operated by Greyhound Canada in cooperation with Trailways of New York and Greyhound Lines between the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan and the Toronto Coach Terminal.[4]
Stations
Fleet
Greyhound operates 480 buses, but it has an extended fleet through connecting operators:
Greyhound Canada's fleet:
| Make/Model | Description | Fleet size | Year acquired | Year retired | Notes |
| Motor Coach Industries D4505 | suburban coach | 42 | 2006 | N/A |  |
| Motor Coach Industries G4500 | suburban coach | 65 | 2002 | N/A | |
| Motor Coach Industries D4500 | suburban coach | N/A | 2001-2002 | N/A | |
| Motor Coach Industries 102EL3 | suburban coach | N/A | 2000 | N/A | |
| Motor Coach Industries 102C3 | suburban coach | 76 | 1991 | N/A | |
| Motor Coach Industries 102D3 | suburban coach | 20 | 1994-1996 | N/A | |
| Motor Coach Industries 102DL3 | suburban coach | 189 | 1994-2000 | N/A | |
| Prevost Car Le Mirage XLII | suburban coach | 3 | 2002 | N/A | |
| Prevost Car H3-45 | suburban coach | 28 | 1995 | N/A | |
| Prevost Car X3-45 | suburban coach | 17 | 2008 | N/A | |
Greyhound Canada also offers courier services via Greyhound Courier Express.
denotes wheelchair accessible vehicles
Historic
- MCI MC-7 suburban coach
- Twin Coach 38S transit bus
- MCI Courier 100, 100A, 100B, 100C suburban coach
- MCI Courier 200, 200A, 200B suburban coach
- MCI Courier 95, 95D, 96, 97 suburban coach
- MCI Courier 85A, 85-X suburban coach
- Western Flyer Coach P-41R "Canuck" rear engine intercity coach
- MCI MC-1 suburban coach
- MCI MCX-1 suburban coach
- MCI MC-2 suburban coach
- MCI MC-3 suburban coach
- MCI MCX-4 suburban coach
- MCI MC-4 suburban coach
- MCI MCC-5 suburban coach
- MCI MC-5A suburban coach
- MCI MC-6 suburban coach
- MCI MC-8 suburban coach
- MCI MC-5B suburban coach
- MCI MCX-5 suburban coach
- MCI MC-9 suburban coach
- MCI 96A3 suburban coach
- MCI 102DL3 suburban coach
- Yellow Coach 743 intercity suburban coach
- GMC PD-3302 rear engine parlour coach
- CC&F/Brill IC-37 intercity coach
- GMC TDH-4506 "Old Look"
- GMC TDH-4509 "Old Look"
- Motor Coach Industries 96A3
- Motor Coach Industries 102A3
- Motor Coach Industries 9
- Motor Coach Industries-9Sp
- International 3400
- Leyland Motors Ltd double decker
- Daimler Double decker
- Dupon Trolley Industries Trolley bus
Most buses are registered in Alberta and bear the province's license plates. In Ontario, Voyageur buses and some Greyhound buses have Ontario plates.
Older buses sport the old colours of the American parent, but the current scheme is a white base with large grehound image on the front and sides with a large light grey wording Greyhound on the sides (now the old scheme for the rest of the Greyhound operations).
Transmissions
From the 1985 model year 96A3 to the 1995 model year D4000 and D4500 (102D(L)3), as well as the first Prevost H3-45 coaches, Greyhound Canada specified manual transmissions in all their intercity coaches. At first, five speed Eaton Fuller transmissions were equipped in all 96A3 and 102A3 coaches. Beginning with the 1989 model year 102C3SS coaches, Greyhound Canada specified seven speed manual transmissions.
Allison B500 and B500Rs have been used on coaches equipped with Automatic transmissions until the D4505s which use the ZF-AStronic (automatic standard) transmission.
Unions
- Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1374 represents unionized Greyhound employees in Western Canada and Northern Ontario and is based in Calgary.
- Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1415 represents unionized Greyhound employees in Ontario and Quebec and is based in Toronto.
Notable incidents and accidents
 |
Wikinews has related news: Man decapitated on Greyhound bus in Manitoba |
- December 23, 2000: An attempted hijacking of a Greyhound Canada bus near Thunder Bay, Ontario left one woman dead and 31 others injured.[5]
- July 30, 2008: Tim McLean, a passenger on an Edmonton to Winnipeg schedule, was beheaded by another passenger near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The attacker was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder, but later found to be not criminally responsible by reason of insanity.[5][6][7][8][9][10] Greyhound Canada withdrew ads with the slogan There's a reason you've never heard of "bus rage" following the event, citing that the campaign was "no longer appropriate".[11]
- September 21, 2008: A young man was attacked by another passenger on a Greyhound Canada schedule in northwestern Ontario. Police arrested a 28-year-old man near the town of White River, about 300 kilometres (190 mi) north of Sault Ste. Marie, shortly after the bus driver let him get off at the side of the highway.[5]
- December 16, 2010: A Toronto Transit Commission 505 Dundas streetcar heading eastbound at River Street, crashed into a Greyhound Canada bus after running a red traffic signal. 17 passengers, including 4 schoolchildren, received serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.[12]
See also
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Greyhound Canada. |
- Gare d'autocars de Montréal
- Gray Coach Lines
- Greyhound Air
- Greyhound Lines
- Penetang-Midland Coach Lines
- Voyageur Colonial Bus Lines
References
- ↑ "Greyhound.ca -". Greyhound.ca. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ↑ Foran, Max (1982). Calgary, Canada's frontier metropolis : an illustrated history. Windsor Publications. p. 322. ISBN 0-89781-055-4.
- ↑ "Greyhound.ca -". Greyhound.ca. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ↑ "NeOn Bus website". Neonbus.com. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2
- ↑
- ↑ "Beheading suspect in court - CTV News". CTVNews. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ "Bus suspect utters death wish - CTV News". CTVNews. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ↑ Doucette, Chris (17 December 2010). "Bus driver charged in crash with streetcar". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
External links
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