Greyhound Canada Transportation ULC began as a local
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
bus line in the early 1920s, expanded across most of Canada, and became a subsidiary of the US
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...
in 1940.
In 2018, Greyhound pulled out of
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canadaâ ...
, preserving only domestic service in Ontario and Quebec, and trans-border routes to the United States.
In March 2021, Greyhound Canada permanently suspended operation in all of Canada, with the exceptions of the following cross-border routes, operated by Greyhound Lines (USA).
*
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
*Montreal to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
*
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
to
Buffalo (with connections to New York City)
*
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
In October 2021,
FlixBus announced the acquisition of Greyhound, including Greyhound Canada.
In June 2022,
Trailways of New York
Trailways of New York is one of the largest privately held transportation companies based in New York State. It employs over 450 people and carries passengers more than 80 million miles annually.
TrailwaysNY, as it is known, operates over 150 tr ...
severed its 25-year alliance with Greyhound, ending all interlining and codeshares.
Timeline
1921: John Learmonth started a
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
âWillow Point passenger and freight service in the
West Kootenay
The Kootenays or Kootenay ( ) is a region of southeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people.
Boundaries
The Kootenays are more or less defined by the Kootenay ...
region of southeastern BC.
1922: Learmonth extended the service eastward to the
Balfour area. In a 1923 timetable, Old's Stage was the trading name, which operated a 15-person jitney service, connected by a river crossing to the
Procter steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
landing. On reopening for the 1924 season, the trading name changed to Learmonth.
1925: Before the establishment of the
Harrop Cable Ferry
The Harrop Ferry is a cable ferry at Harrop Narrows on the west arm of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The crossing, off BC Highway 3A, is by road about northeast of Nelson and west of Balfour.
Pla ...
, Learmonth switched his route westward to
Trail
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. Th ...
. Learmonth is believed to have started the new NelsonâProcter service via the ferry.
1928: Learmonth commenced a Nelsonâ
Kaslo
Kaslo is a village on the west shore of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. A member municipality of the Central Kootenay Regional District, the name derives from the adjacent Kaslo River. At 2016, the p ...
service, driven by Herb Harrop. Serving the routes from Nelson were a 20-seat
Pierce-Arrow
The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was an American motor vehicle manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York, which was active from 1901 to 1938. Although best known for its expensive luxury cars, Pierce-Arrow also manufactured commercial trucks ...
bus named Marjorie to Trail, Muriel to Kaslo, and Patricia to
Slocan City
The Village of Slocan is in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The former steamboat landing and ferry terminal is at the mouth of Springer Creek, at the foot of Slocan Lake. The locality, on BC Highway 6 is about by roa ...
.
1929: Roosevelt (Speed) Olson formed Kootenay Valley Transportation Co. (KVT) to take over the three routes, having bought the business the previous November. Learmonth was district superintendent until retirement in 1965. KVT started a Nelsonâ
Salmo
''Salmo'' is a genus of ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae. The single ''Salmo'' species naturally found in the Atlantic North America is the Atlantic salmon, whereas the salmon and trout of the Pacific basin belong to another genus, ''O ...
â
Spokane
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...
service. KVT purchased the J. Motherwell operations, the only remaining bus line in the district. Canadian Greyhound Coaches BC (CGBC) was registered. Speed's brother Barney and George B. Fay joined this expanding venture. W.L. Watson sold the partners Foothills Transportation Co. (FT), which operated
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
â
Nanton, Alberta
Nanton is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. Nanton was named after Sir Augustus Meredith Nanton of Winnipeg (1860â1925) who directed firms which offered financing for farms and ranches throughout the west. It is located south of Calgary at th ...
.
1930: The shareholders formed Canadian Greyhound Coaches (CGC) in Alberta to create a route network within that province and to manage all existing operations. Barney Olson founded Canadian Yelloway Lines to assume the Calgaryâ
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
route when Brewster Transport lost the franchise. The partners amalgamated this business and their other ones as Central Canadian Greyhound Lines (CCG). The Alberta and BC operations became connected by a through service, but passengers initially had to change buses at the
Crowsnest Pass
Crowsnest Pass (sometimes referred to as Crow's Nest Pass, french: link=no, col du Nid-de-Corbeau) is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Albertaâ British Columbia border.
Geography
The pass is ...
border. Using interline agreements with two
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
-based companies, a CalgaryâEdmontonâSpokaneâ
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
through service was established. Canadian Greyhound Lines (CG) was formed for Ontario operations.
1931: CCG created interline services with other Alberta and Western US operators. When Greyhound USA sued to restrain CCG from using the Greyhound name, lengthy negotiations began.
CG and
Gray Coach
Gray Coach was a Canadian inter-city bus line based in Toronto, Ontario, from 1927 to 1992. It was founded and initially owned by the Toronto Transportation Commission, until sold to Stagecoach in 1990. In 1992 the business was sold to Greyhoun ...
Lines established Toronto Greyhound Lines, a joint venture, for a
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
â
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United StatesâCanada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
route.
1933: CCG acquired Calgary & Eastern Bus Lines (established 1927).
1934: CCG acquired Alberta Montana Bus Lines (established 1930). Arrow Coach Lines (AC) transferred its Alberta routes to CGG.
1935: After negotiating since 1931, Greyhound US granted CCG a licence to use the Greyhound name and interline agreements with Pacific Greyhound, Northland Greyhound, and Washington Motor Coach. BC Greyhound (BCG) was established. BCG acquired Interior Greyhound Lines from O.K. Valley Freight Lines, which had purchased the enterprise the prior year. BCG acquired Cariboo Greyhound Lines.
1938: CCG acquired Trans-Continental Coach Lines (TCC) (established 1935) from Barney Olson and Midland Bus Lines of Alberta (established 1926). The latter had bought the
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
operations of
Grey Goose Bus Lines in 1936.
1939: TG acquired Canadian-American Trailways of Ontario.
1940: CG acquired TG. TCC acquired Prairie Coach Lines (established 1933). BCG acquired Blue Funnel Lines. A restructuring of the group as Western Canadian Greyhound Lines (WCG) gave Greyhound USA 80 per cent ownership and Fay 20 per cent.
1941: CCG acquired AC, which was operating in Saskatchewan. WCG obtained the linking
Big Bend Highway
The Big Bend Highway is a former highway in the interior of British Columbia, was the original alignment of British Columbia Highway 1, Highway 1 (Hwy 1) which followed the Columbia River between Revelstoke, British Columbia, Revelstoke and ...
route.
1942: CCG bought the Calgaryâ
Banff route from Brewster Transport. The US military contracted CCG to provide a
Dawson Creek
Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after ...
â
Whitehorse
Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...
service along the new