# Getting to Fredericton



## Anderson (Nov 10, 2012)

So, I seem to have turned into a one-man travel agency. I've got a friend looking to go to Fredericton in December. Since the Ocean doesn't run there, I'm looking at rail-bus links. Acadian looks to be shutting down, so...is there likely to be any bus link into NB after the end of the month?


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## MrFSS (Nov 10, 2012)

_*Air Canada*_ flies there from most major Canadian cities. Is that an option?


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## Swadian Hardcore (Nov 10, 2012)

Apparently this guy does not want to fly.


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## NS VIA Fan (Nov 10, 2012)

Tri Maritime will be taking over most of the former Acadian routes on December 1 and are saying it will be a seamless transfer. Tri Maritime is a division of a long established charter bus operator: Trius.....who have the resources. 

http://thechronicleh...gets-ok-to-roll

Their approval to operate from the Public Utilities Board sets a minimum of 2 schedules a day each way on the Moncton-Fredericton-Edmundston-Rivere du Loup run where they will connect with runs in Quebec. They have also made a point in their presentation that they will coordinate runs with VIA for onward connections.

I'm pretty optimistic with this development.......no schedules on-line yet but I`ll post a link here as soon as they`re up.


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## Anderson (Nov 10, 2012)

Ok, cool. I'll keep an eye on this for the next few weeks and see what comes out. Thanks, NS VIA Fan.

By the way, to explain a bit more: Said friend and I are probably going to take the Adirondack up to Montreal (he's wanted to take the train for a while after I sold him on the idea). At that point, there's no competent and affordable rail option for them to ride to Moncton (VIA very likely failing the latter, and the former is now a crapshoot because of the 3x weekly schedule replacing the ex-Tuesday schedule), so the bus is likely to win out on this front.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Nov 11, 2012)

Here's some more information about Trius: http://www.triusgrou... buses 2011.pdf.

Going down the list, it looks like they have the decent J4500, average H3-45 and H3-40, the older but excellent 102D3, and some other non-intercity buses ("semicoaches" and school buses) that I am not familiar with. Hope this helps!


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## NS VIA Fan (Nov 11, 2012)

There’s speculation that portions of the Intercolonial route the Ocean currently uses via Campbellton will be abandoned and the Ocean will be rerouted onto the National Transcontinental through Edmundston. If this does happen, Fredericton would have convenient access (possibly a bus connection) to a potential stop in McGivney…..about 30 miles north of the city. 

Fredericton was never on a mainline. CP had shuttle trains and later buses to Frederiction Jct. (25 miles south) to connect with the Atlantic Limited. VIA continued this until the Atlantic was discontinued in Dec 1994. VIA also had a Halifax-Saint John-Fredericton RDC Railiner for several years in the early 80’s.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Nov 12, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> There’s speculation that portions of the Intercolonial route the Ocean currently uses via Campbellton will be abandoned and the Ocean will be rerouted onto the National Transcontinental through Edmundston. If this does happen, Fredericton would have convenient access (possibly a bus connection) to a potential stop in McGivney…..about 30 miles north of the city.
> 
> Fredericton was never on a mainline. CP had shuttle trains and later buses to Frederiction Jct. (25 miles south) to connect with the Atlantic Limited. VIA continued this until the Atlantic was discontinued in Dec 1994. VIA also had a Halifax-Saint John-Fredericton RDC Railiner for several years in the early 80’s.


That line you mentioned is shorter than the currentone, so it should reduce travel time as well. But the situtation in Canada is just so poor that I fear the Ocean may just get cancelled. I do not believe it is considered "essentital service." If the Atlantic came back that would be great but also unlikely.


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## NS VIA Fan (Nov 18, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> Tri Maritime will be taking over most of the former Acadian routes on December 1 and are saying it will be a seamless transfer. Tri Maritime is a division of a long established charter bus operator: Trius.....who have the resources. I'm pretty optimistic with this development.......no schedules on-line yet but I`ll post a link here as soon as they`re up.


Here's the link to their Web Page.....schedules to be posted by Nov 26.

http://www.maritimebus.com/


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## railiner (Nov 18, 2012)

Well this is news to me....I just came back from a cruise that called at Halifax, and made a brief pass thru the VIA-Acadian Terminal. Didn't see any notices that Acadian was abandoning all those routes. Looking at the new proposed route map, I did not see any mention of running the limited service from St. Stephen to Bangor, that Acadian did run.

I wonder if anyone will provided service on that line? If not, it would be a very, very roundabout route to get from New England to the Maritimes.......


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## Swadian Hardcore (Nov 19, 2012)

railiner said:


> Well this is news to me....I just came back from a cruise that called at Halifax, and made a brief pass thru the VIA-Acadian Terminal. Didn't see any notices that Acadian was abandoning all those routes. Looking at the new proposed route map, I did not see any mention of running the limited service from St. Stephen to Bangor, that Acadian did run.
> 
> I wonder if anyone will provided service on that line? If not, it would be a very, very roundabout route to get from New England to the Maritimes.......


Hey, railiner, how you doing? Haven't heard from you in a while! Which cruise did you take?

I agree that it would be foolish to run the shuttle to St. Stephen without a connection to Bangor. Losing out quite a bit right there. It also seems that Tri-Maritime will not be using the Trius fleet, their website shows a Setra.


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## railiner (Nov 19, 2012)

I just researched the Bangor/St. Stephen line, and apparently it ended back in February of 2011.

See http://bangor.wcsh6.com/news/news/maine-canada-bus-service-end/56609

I recall the good old days when Eastern Greyhound ran two all year locals via US 1, and supplemented those during peak summer months with express service via Maine 9.

They ran thru service from New York City all the way to Halifax in a pool with SMT (Eastern Limited), and Acadian Lines.

The only link I could now find, is this http://www.westbusservice.com/ service between Bangor and Calais, across the border from St. Stephen. It might require an overnite stop to connect on to St. John and beyond, but it's better than nothing.........


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## Anderson (Nov 20, 2012)

It looks like, with a surprise schedule shift, that the Ocean may actually end up working for this trip. So...should be interesting.


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## NS VIA Fan (Nov 20, 2012)

Back in the ‘70s you could actually buy an Amtrak ticket all the way through to St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Greyhound met the train at South Station in Boston. At St. Stephen connections were available with SMT to continue on to Saint John, Moncton and Halifax. (And at Saint John......you could have connected to Fredericton)


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## Swadian Hardcore (Nov 20, 2012)

Wow, they put together an E60 with a MC-7!


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## railiner (Nov 20, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> Back in the ‘70s you could actually buy an Amtrak ticket all the way through to St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Greyhound met the train at South Station in Boston. At St. Stephen connections were available with SMT to continue on to Saint John, Moncton and Halifax. (And at Saint John......you could have connected to Fredericton)


That was when, July of '76?

I love the creative artistry of the "Amhound".......they had to reduce the size of the locomotive a bit to make that drawing work.....


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## NS VIA Fan (Nov 29, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> NS VIA Fan said:
> 
> 
> > Tri Maritime will be taking over most of the former Acadian routes on December 1 and are saying it will be a seamless transfer. Tri Maritime is a division of a long established charter bus operator: Trius.....who have the resources. I'm pretty optimistic with this development.......no schedules on-line yet but I`ll post a link here as soon as they`re up.
> ...


Schedules are now posted on the Maritime Bus page (link above).

Connections are availabe to/from VIA but not as good as I thought but there will probably be some fine tuning once they are up and running.

One thing I noted.......besides Halifax, the VIA Stations in Moncton and Truro are now the Bus Terminals also.


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## railiner (Nov 29, 2012)

While I am certainly glad they are filling in the vacuum that Acadian is leaving, it seems they are not going to Bangor, not even to the border at

St. Stephen. Hopefully they will extend at least to St. Stephen in the future....

I see that they are picking up the former Acadian Terminal in Sydney. For the relatively little traffic that remains on that once fairly busy route (at one time a couple of routes to Truro and beyond), that terminal is oversized--sort of a 'white elephant'. It also is adjacent to a bus garage. It is located close by the former Canadian National Sydney station, now looking sad and long boarded up, after a few other uses....It is not the same stop used by VIA for its last excursion train service to Sydney a few years ago....

I made it a point to visit it each year while calling there on a cruise......the last few years it really showed signs of being run down, sort of in empathy with the CN station..... :mellow:


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## NS VIA Fan (Nov 30, 2012)

Yes it would be nice to have service to Bangor but as you can see in this news clip from Feb 2011 they were getting from 0 to 5 or 6 passengers per day on the run.

http://bangor.wcsh6.com/news/news/maine-canada-bus-service-end/56609

Here in Antigonish we fare much better with the change over to Maritime Bus. Still 4 buses per day each way to/from Halifax and 2 each way to Sydney. The majority of passengers here are the students at St. Francis Xavier University and the bus terminal is located on campus.


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## NS VIA Fan (Nov 30, 2012)

Maritime Bus and VIA join forces.......... and joint ticketing by Spring 2013:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1081559/maritime-bus-and-via-rail-canada-join-forces


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## Swadian Hardcore (Nov 30, 2012)

Anybody know what equipment they are using?


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## NS VIA Fan (Nov 30, 2012)

This Setra is the first in the Maritime Bus scheme......the rest will be from the Trius fleet for now

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/204221-maritime-bus-steers-toward-smooth-launch


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## railiner (Nov 30, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> Yes it would be nice to have service to Bangor but as you can see in this news clip from Feb 2011 they were getting from 0 to 5 or 6 passengers per day on the run.
> 
> http://bangor.wcsh6....rvice-end/56609
> 
> Here in Antigonish we fare much better with the change over to Maritime Bus. Still 4 buses per day each way to/from Halifax and 2 each way to Sydney. The majority of passengers here are the students at St. Francis Xavier University and the bus terminal is located on campus.


I think that if they would get some support from Greyhound in the way of joint thru schedules, a minimum of marketing, thru ticketing, etc., as in years past,

the load count would climb dramatically. With the cutback in VIA service, the opportunity to pick up some of that market should be tapped.


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## railiner (Nov 30, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> This Setra is the first in the Maritime Bus scheme......the rest will be from the Trius fleet for now
> 
> http://thechronicleh...d-smooth-launch


Setra's and minicoaches are a definite downgrade from the Acadian's Prevost fleet, but are definitely better than nothing......


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## railiner (Nov 30, 2012)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> Wow, they put together an E60 with a MC-7!


Looks more like an MC-8, to me......


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## Swadian Hardcore (Dec 1, 2012)

railiner said:


> NS VIA Fan said:
> 
> 
> > This Setra is the first in the Maritime Bus scheme......the rest will be from the Trius fleet for now
> ...


Trius dosen't seem to operate Setras, though. I wonder where that bus popped out from. At least if they are going to use mostly Trius buses, we'll start seeing MCIs and Prevosts.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Dec 1, 2012)

railiner said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
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> 
> > Wow, they put together an E60 with a MC-7!
> ...


Yeah, you're right on this one. It dosen't have the center destination sign. I wish I could ride those buses today, when I first rode Greyhound many of their buses were MC-8s.


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## railiner (Dec 1, 2012)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> railiner said:
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> > Swadian Hardcore said:
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From a driver's standpoint, I would agree with you. I would prefer the older, simpler equipment. From a passenger's view, it's debatable....the new buses are larger than the old ones, they have more amenities like video screens, power plug-ins, wi-fi, etc. On the downside, their new seating is uncomfortable.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Dec 1, 2012)

railiner said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
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Ah, well, maybe it's just the memories of riding them as a kid.


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## NS VIA Fan (Dec 10, 2012)

Maritime Bus will continue to use the former Acadian Terminal at the VIA Station in Halifax:







In the days leading up to the Acadian last runs......you would occasionally see Orleans Express equipment (Acadian's parent) on some runs:






.......and some Acadian Nostalgia:


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## railiner (Dec 12, 2012)

NS VIA Fan.......Thankyou, so much for posting those Acadian timetables, and the photo's. I really enjoyed reading thru them. Love that Winter, '66 cover, with the 4104 and the Flxible Clipper on it. The timetables made for an enjoyable read....

I was at the Halifax terminal the 29th of October, during my cruise from Quebec City to Tampa on the Norwegian Dawn. I always make it a ritual to stop there. I take the 'shortcut' from the cruise ship terminal thru the Westin Nova Scotian hotel, and pick up timetables from the VIA counter, as well as the Acadian. I did not see any notices of the end of Acadian service, but was not really looking for them....

I usually make it thru there every year. Like to go into the Atlantic superstore to browse on the other side of the terminal. On the days the Ocean is in, I usually take a tour thru it (with permission)....


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## Swadian Hardcore (Dec 13, 2012)

What's the Model 4502? It looks like a suburban version of the New Look transit but I'm not sure.


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## railiner (Dec 13, 2012)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> What's the Model 4502? It looks like a suburban version of the New Look transit but I'm not sure.


That's exactly what it is.....it is a 35 foot version of an SDM-5302 40 foot Suburban......


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## Swadian Hardcore (Dec 13, 2012)

railiner said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
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> > What's the Model 4502? It looks like a suburban version of the New Look transit but I'm not sure.
> ...


Why was Acadian using a suburbann bus instead of just more PD-4104/4107s?


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## NS VIA Fan (Dec 13, 2012)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> railiner said:
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Acadian had an extensive suburban network in the Halifax area until 1970 when Halifax Transit was formed.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Dec 14, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
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Makes sense, I know Greyhound had a network out of SFD, too.


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## NS VIA Fan (Dec 14, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> Acadian had an extensive suburban network in the Halifax area until 1970 when Halifax Transit was formed.


The formation of Halifax Transit in 1970 also marked the end of Nova Scotia Light & Power's electric trolley coach fleet. Here's a trolley across from the CN Station & Hotel (and close to the same spot as my photo in reply #30 above)

http://www.trolleybuses.net/hfx/htm/can_h_hfx_brill_238_cnrrstaopposite_19670912_ss.htm


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## Swadian Hardcore (Dec 14, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> NS VIA Fan said:
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> > Acadian had an extensive suburban network in the Halifax area until 1970 when Halifax Transit was formed.
> ...


Aw man, Brill trackless trolleys, they sure looked awesome!


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## railiner (Dec 15, 2012)

NS VIA Fan said:


> NS VIA Fan said:
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> > Acadian had an extensive suburban network in the Halifax area until 1970 when Halifax Transit was formed.
> ...


Quite a nice collection.....I used to ride Pullman and St. Louis Car trolley coaches in Brooklyn in my childhood.......


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