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Greyhound Canada

Motor Coach Industries 102DL3 in Toronto in October 2014
Parent	FirstGroup
Founded	1929
Ceased operation	May 13, 2021
Headquarters	1111 International Boulevard, Burlington, Ontario
Service area	Quebec (Montreal) and Ontario (Southern Ontario), Canada
Service type	Intercity coach service
Alliance	Greyhound Lines Trailways of New York
Website	www.greyhound.ca

Greyhound Canada Transportation ULC was the Canadian affiliate of Greyhound USA, and part of the North American operations of FirstGroup. It ceased operations on 13 May 2021.^[1][2]

Operations were confined to the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, providing services in the main centres such as Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Barrie, London, Hamilton, Kitchener, Windsor, and Niagara Falls.

In 1929, Greyhound Canada was founded as Canadian Greyhound Coaches Limited by George Fay and Speed Olson, operating first in Nelson, British Columbia and then Alberta.^[3] It was sold to Greyhound USA in 1940. In 1948 it purchased a controlling interest in bus manufacturer Motor Coach Industries, taking full ownership in 1956.^[4]

In 1992, Gray Coach was purchased from Stagecoach while control of Motor Coach Industries passed to Greyhound USA. In July 1996, Greyhound Air was established operating Boeing 727s.^[5] In September 1997 the business was purchased by Laidlaw.^[6] The Greyhound Air business was not included and shut down. Voyageur Colonial Bus Lines was purchased in 1998 followed shortly after by Penetang-Midland Coach Lines. In 2007 it was included in the purchase of Laidlaw by FirstGroup.^[4][7]

On May 6, 2020, Greyhound Canada announced it would shut down all its remaining bus services effective May 13. The reason was a 95 percent drop in ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The shutdown would affect 400 employees. Greyhound had already reduced service on March 25 and suspended 6 routes on April 5.^[8]

In February 2018, Greyhound Canada received permission to terminate its two remaining routes on Vancouver Island running from Victoria, British Columbia to Nanaimo and Vancouver. Tofino Bus Services subsequently took over these two Greyhound routes.^[9][10]

Greyhound Canada terminated service along Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia with the last run being on May 30, 2018. Greyhound said it was losing $35,000 per day on routes in Northern British Columbia and in parts of Vancouver Island, and had lost $70 million in the six years prior to 2018^[11] At the time, BC Bus North stepped in to provide services between Fort Nelson, Prince Rupert, Prince George, Fort St. John and Dawson Creek.^[12][13][14]

Greyhound Canada also terminated service from Prince George, British Columbia to Whitehorse, Yukon with the last trip from Whitehorse occurring on May 30, 2018.^[15]

From 2014 to 2017, ridership along that part of the route between Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson had dropped from 18,307 to 9,647 passengers.^[16]

Greyhound Canada announced on July 9, 2018 that it was cancelling all services west of Sudbury, Ontario. The sole remaining route between Vancouver and Seattle would be operated by Greyhound USA. Greyhound Canada claimed the cancellations were due to declining ridership, which dropped 41% nationwide since 2010 and 8% in Western Canada alone in 2017. The cancellations took effect on October 31, 2018.^[17] Greyhound said that the decline in ridership was due to increased car ownership, subsidies to competing passenger carriers, competition from low-cost airlines and regulatory restrictions.^[18]

On May 13, 2020, Greyhound Canada announced that it was temporarily suspending all remaining Canadian services citing declining passenger demand and financial hardship following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic^[19].

On May 13, 2021, Greyhound Canada announced an end to intercity bus operations in Canada.^[20] The company plans to sell its bus stations and refund tickets and travel vouchers for travel after May 13th.^[20]

Prior to the suspension of service in May 2020, Greyhound Canada's scheduled bus service operated only in two Canadian provinces, namely Ontario and Quebec.

Connections to US destinations were available, primarily through Greyhound USA, although there was 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 could sometimes transfer onto other bus lines which maintained inter-line agreements with Greyhound:

• Ontario Northland Motor Coach Services
• Orléans Express
• Maritime Bus
• Adirondack Trailways

Prior to the suspension of service in May 2020, Greyhound operated a commuter service in Southern Ontario known as 'QuickLink Commuter Service'.^[21] A list of cities served by this service:

Greyhound Courier Express is a courier company run by Greyhound Canada. Prior to the suspension of service in May 2020, it provided courier and freight service to more than 1,100 destinations across Canada and internationally by bus or air. ^{[citation needed]}

As at October 2018, Greyhound operated 436 vehicles, but it has an extended fleet through connecting operators:^[22]

Greyhound Canada's fleet:

Product list and details

Make/Model	Description	Fleet size	Year acquired	Year retired	Notes
Motor Coach Industries D4505	suburban coach	42	2006	Active
Motor Coach Industries G4500	suburban coach	65	2002	2014
Motor Coach Industries D4500	suburban coach	N/A	2001-2002	Active
Motor Coach Industries 102EL3	suburban coach	N/A	2000	2015
Motor Coach Industries 102C3	suburban coach	76	1991	2011
Motor Coach Industries 102D3	suburban coach	20	1994-1996	2015
Motor Coach Industries 102DL3	suburban coach	189	1994-2000	Active
Prevost Car H3-45	suburban coach	2	1995	2018	Most retired and sold in 2016
Prevost Car X3-45	suburban coach	17/54	2008/2010-14	Active	2008 Prevost transferred from Greyhound Lines in Oct.2014. 2014 Prevost transferred from First Canada in Mar.2018.

denotes wheelchair accessible vehicles

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 greyhound 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).

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.

• Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1415 represented unionized Greyhound employees in Ontario and Quebec and is based in Toronto.

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.^[23]
• 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.^{[23][24][25][26][27][28]} 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".^[29]
• 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.^[30]
• December 16, 2010: A Toronto Transit Commission 505 Dundas streetcar was heading eastbound at River Street when it crashed into a Greyhound Canada bus after running a red traffic signal. 17 passengers, including 4 schoolchildren, received serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.^[31]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Greyhound Canada.

• Greyhound Canada
• Greyhound Courier Express website
• Greyhound USA
• Gray Line Canada
• Historical timeline