Intercity Bus Services

[Northern Light]

Most communities in Ontario that lost their Greyhound service in 2018 and 2020 are connected again by ONTC, or new private operators. The only real exceptions are the Highway 7 East corridor via Peterborough, Madoc, and Perth (which had daily service) and the Highway 28/62 corridor between Peterborough and Pembroke, which had 3x/week service. I would really like to see a Highway 7 service return to service the towns and cities along that corridor.

Coach Canada (Megabus) abandoned the Highway 8 route completely (Hamilton-Kitchener) and previously abandoned Guelph-Hamilton. Those routes are not being picked up by anyone yet, though GO would be a logical operator.

Great info from you, as always, on this subject.

Important to add though, as per your own site, there are lots of communities in Ontario that lacked regular service prior to 2018, and continue to do so.

Several others that have regular service, but not daily, or more frequently, where there is likely latent demand.

 

[gabe]

Guelph to Kitchener needs a bus service until all day GO train service happens. GO transit some how turned a 25 min car ride into 1 hr 24 min bus ride. Greyhound was around 40 mins on that route.

 

[Bordercollie]

Guelph to Kitchener needs a bus service until all day GO train service happens. GO transit some how turned a 25 min car ride into 1 hr 24 min bus ride. Greyhound was around 40 mins on that route.

What about routes like Barrie to Owen sound?
LINK bus doesn't run on weekends, which makes it hard for tourists.

There should be a highway 2 service from Newcastle to Kingston. And connect to the VIA stations. I don't know why that was never a route.

 

[Allandale25]

 

[anb]

Guelph to Kitchener needs a bus service until all day GO train service happens. GO transit some how turned a 25 min car ride into 1 hr 24 min bus ride. Greyhound was around 40 mins on that route.

At least its 50% better than what it was during the early pandemic. If you weren't lucky enough to catch the transfer between the buses at Aberfoyle, you pretty much had to wait a whole hour just for the next bus to arrive. Now we have a lot more go train service between the 2 cities during the day and you at least don't have to wait an hour for the transfer if you miss the bus as the 25 runs 30 mins all day now. The Guelph-Kitchener bus journey isn't perfect, in fact you're dipping down to the 401 and then coming back up with either end's main highway which isn't the ideal route by car at all. But regardless, if we're seeing improvements being made, this gives me hope for the future looking bright for frequent travel.

 

[reaperexpress]

Guelph to Kitchener needs a bus service until all day GO train service happens. GO transit some how turned a 25 min car ride into 1 hr 24 min bus ride. Greyhound was around 40 mins on that route.

GO currently runs 10 train round trips per day between Kitchener and Guelph with a travel time of under 20 minutes*. Greyhound only ran 6 bus trips per day, with travel times between 45 and 55 minutes.

*The schedule says 21-24 minutes but it's actually around 18 minutes in practice.

Work is underway on a siding at Guelph station, which would allow for hourly GO train service from Kitchener to Toronto (or at the very least Kitchener to Guelph).

Maybe they could add a couple of westbound commuter bus trips in the morning peak (and eastbound in the afternoon peak), but other than that I think we're better off just continuing to expand the train offerings instead of starting a duplicate bus service which takes twice as long as the train.

 

[LNahid2000]

GO currently runs 10 train round trips per day between Kitchener and Guelph with a travel time of under 20 minutes*. Greyhound only ran 6 bus trips per day, with travel times between 45 and 55 minutes.

*The schedule says 21-24 minutes but it's actually around 18 minutes in practice.

Work is underway on a siding at Guelph station, which would allow for hourly GO train service from Kitchener to Toronto (or at the very least Kitchener to Guelph).

Maybe they could add a couple of westbound commuter bus trips in the morning peak (and eastbound in the afternoon peak), but other than that I think we're better off just continuing to expand the train offerings instead of starting a duplicate bus service which takes twice as long as the train.

Pretty sure they're talking about the weekend, when the only way from Kitchener to Guelph is an almost 90 minute bus ride.

 

[reaperexpress]

Pretty sure they're talking about the weekend, when the only way from Kitchener to Guelph is an almost 90 minute bus ride.

They didn't say anything about the weekend, but yes the situation is quite poor on the weekend. But there too I expect we'll see a few train trips per day relatively soon, similar to the weekend service to Barrie.

 

[christiesplits]

I would love a bus that goes from Hamilton to Guelph or Hamilton to KWC. May as well walk it before trying to do it via GO Transit.

 

[reaperexpress]

I would love a bus that goes from Hamilton to Guelph or Hamilton to KWC. May as well walk it before trying to do it via GO Transit.

My hope is that once there's hourly train service from KW to Guelph, there could be an hourly bus service from Guelph to Hamilton Centre (via Guelph U, Aberfoyle and West Harbour) timed to meet trains from Kitchener. Although the demand from Guelph to Hamilton may not be enough for an economical (profitable?) bus service, the combined demand from KW and Guelph hopefully would be.

 

[DirectionNorth]

My hope is that once there's hourly train service from KW to Guelph, there could be an hourly bus service from Guelph to Hamilton Centre (via Guelph U, Aberfoyle and West Harbour) timed to meet trains from Kitchener. Although the demand from Guelph to Hamilton may not be enough for an economical (profitable?) bus service, the combined demand from KW and Guelph hopefully would be.

I think there is - look at volumes on the 6, 24, and the 8

 

[Garuda]

I would love a bus that goes from Hamilton to Guelph or Hamilton to KWC. May as well walk it before trying to do it via GO Transit.

A GO bus route I'd like to see would be along Highway 6 Aldershot - Waterdown - Carisle - Freelton - Morriston - Aberfoyle - Guelph - Fergus - Elora.

Elora is becoming a popular weekend destination.

 

[drum118]

Greyhound is selling tickets to Canada for travel beginning Nov. 8​

 

[gabe]

GO currently runs 10 train round trips per day between Kitchener and Guelph with a travel time of under 20 minutes*. Greyhound only ran 6 bus trips per day, with travel times between 45 and 55 minutes.

*The schedule says 21-24 minutes but it's actually around 18 minutes in practice.

Work is underway on a siding at Guelph station, which would allow for hourly GO train service from Kitchener to Toronto (or at the very least Kitchener to Guelph).

Maybe they could add a couple of westbound commuter bus trips in the morning peak (and eastbound in the afternoon peak), but other than that I think we're better off just continuing to expand the train offerings instead of starting a duplicate bus service which takes twice as long as the train.

Yes I said Guelph to Kitchener, which is over an hour on the GO bus. The train schedules aren't much good for those who work in the morning or take classes in K-W and live in the Guelph area.

I"m sure they could add a few morning GO buses for such a short route.

Or better yet...

Unions, transit advocates call for bus links between Guelph, Waterloo, Brantford

“The Guelph-to-Cambridge missing link and the Cambridge-to-Brantford missing link, those are the two most glaring gaps in the system”

www.guelphmercury.com

 

[anb]

Guelph-Cambridge is surprisingly not that bad with GO but Cambridge-Brantford or Hamilton needs to happen. It's ridiculous how riders are forced to either hitch a ride from someone, use rideshare, or detour themselves to square one just to get to a place that is a 20-30 min drive away...