Fleet of 38 buses up for auction
Company has shut Canadian routes permanently
A fleet of Greyhound buses is up for auction after the company announced it was shutting down Canadian operations in May this year.
Corporate Assets Inc., the auction company hosting the listing, has released details of an auction for 38 “exceptionally maintained” motorcoach models, including some with wheelchair capabilities, leather seats, built-in multimedia screens and on-board restrooms.
The auction will take place on Jan. 18, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. at 685 Lakeshore Boulevard East.
A spokesperson for Corporate Assets Inc. says this is a unique opportunity and, “these kinds of buses don’t come up very often.”
Ryan Haas, the owner of Corporate Assets Inc., says buyers could be end users, dealers or resellers.
“This is the first opportunity and the first time that Greyhound has ever released any of their buses to auction. And we're very grateful that we were selected to be the company to handle this for them,” said Haas.
In May 2021, Greyhound Canada announced the company would close its remaining Canadian routes in Ontario and Quebec.
In a news release, the company blamed the decision on a significant drop in ridership and the corresponding revenue loss.
A rise in ride sharing and discount airlines, coupled with deregulation and subsidized competition from companies like Via Rail, disrupted Greyhound’s near-monopoly on intercity transport. The company ended its operations in Western Canada in 2018.
The routes in Ontario and Quebec were the last remaining routes of the national bus line, taking passengers between Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and many surrounding cities. The pandemic’s impact was brutal, COVID-19 restrictions reduced Greyhound ridership by 95 per cent of normal volumes before operations were fully suspended last year. “Our service is reliant on the fare box — we are not able to sustain operations with a significant reduction in ridership and the corresponding revenue loss,” said the company.
John Di Nino, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, says Greyhound buses were widely used by remote Indigenous communities as well as college and university students because it was the most efficient and cost effective way to travel.