Canada greyhound ends

[lvmci]

NYTimes article...

[buswarrior]

They were only a regional carrier in Ontario before shutting down last March 2020, for covid. The rest of their stuff was abandonned in 2018, as the article mentions.

Ontario Northland, the government owned carrier of the north, stepped in and provides basic service Ottawa thru to Winnepeg, and their own Toronto to North Bay and Toronto to Sudbury services continuing.

Ontario is on the verge of de-regulation of the intercity bus industry, so Greyhound Canada's licences were worthless anyway, abandonment nothwithstanding...

Foreign owned, First Group out of the UK, along with the already departed Stagecoach Group,(former Coach Usa/Coach Canada owner) have disrupted and bled the bus industry over their time on this continent.

The bus industry needs a few passionate dingalings with some business savvy and a dream to get involved, the accountants only know how to take things out, things need to be built...

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[windtrader]

The sharks will soon be circling the increasing number of revenue buses going onto the auction block. If more clean low mile fairly recent (2010+) buses show up, it's going to hold be back! lol

[CrabbyMilton]

If the market is strong enough demand for the service, someone in the private sector will step in. People are too concerned with who's name is on the door of the building or in this case, the buses.

[buswarrior]

Won't be many buses come out of this close down, the fleet was already pared down from the earlier western abandonment, the better ones will be absorbed into Greyhoud US, and the junk will be scrapped out.

Greyhound hasn't been buying enough buses for their fleet size, been running it all ragged.

Nothing to buy here, better to see all the lower mileage charter buses the market is awash in.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[windtrader]

BW - that makes perfect sense, as in business winding down sense, with a multi-year plan. Have you seen the travel/entertainment charter buses hitting the market much? I've not seen any auctions where there is a line of various branded charter and tour buses on the blocks. Maybe not looking in the right place.

[buswarrior]

Little for sale, there's no buyers.

Totally wiped out anywhere there is a tourist market.

Whoever owns 'em, are sitting on them, effectively worthless until there's a market again.

Yes, First Group systematically bled Greyhound to death, the pandemic just accelerated the end.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[windtrader]

Is carrying cost that low so operators can choose to just park them? I'd think that there are loans to pay and other operating costs like insurance etc. that burden the struggling operator's monthly cash flow and they'd be better off to get them off the books to reduce on going costs as well as get some cash for keeping the mother ship afloat.


Now, if you feel they have so little value on the open market, that is worth exploring as if one belives revenue for most of these folks is really bad, they might be fairly easily be encouraged to sell a couple off to keep some money in the bank.


But the reality may be at this time it is still the better decision to keep them parked rather than selling them. Maybe by end of summer, if things have not turned around for some, they may hit the market at that time.

[chessie4905]

If the coaches are leased, the operators are stuck with payments till lease is terminated or ends.

[windtrader]

correct until the operator can no longer make the payments then the next step is to repossess the vehicle. Then the lender unloads the vehicle, more than likely sending off to auction to recoup whatever they are owed.


Probably several paths for revenue buses (charters or tour or OTR) to get to market. Ultimately what drives the true current price is that when the gavel slams down - SOLD! And simple supply and demand drives the bidding activity.

[buswarrior]

The "mortgage holders" have no where to sell them. Many deals totally renogitiated, because it ends up a total loss... total...

There is no market to sell them into.

Look around, the only buses on the highway are subsidized government services, and token single trips to honour line run corridors.

Total collapse, defies all the usual rules.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[windtrader]

i understand what you are saying, not so sure I agree that is the rationale for bankers not dumping and getting whatever they can for them. My impression of how bankers treat repossessed is they can carry stuff on the books if they have strong finances and feel there is very high potential for recovering more than what they can get today.


For each repossessed asset, the bank pays ongoing expenses, meaning adding more losses. I do not agree there is NO market, rather a pretty grim and depressed market.


From the recent posts of the Genentech gaggle going for around $25 for a ten year old 300k mile Setra to the ten year old MCI J4500 at about the same, there are buyers, so there is a market.


If one were seriously interested in finding a bus of this profile, it'd be worth finding out how much real inventory are bankers holding. And if in fact the market is as stinky as it seems, and they want to just get rid of these things, causing ongoing expenses, you might find a really sweet deal.


I am sure they'd love to get rid of the bus and the ongoing carrying expenses and not have to pay auction commissions and other disposal fees. But I'm not a banker so have no idea what they are thinking about ways to cut losses and be done.

[chessie4905]

I remember many stored coaches of only a couple of years old down at Luke's former location in early 2000's after fuel crisis/ recession.