Voyageur Colonial Bus Lines - History

History

Voyageur Colonial Limited was incorporated on January 7, 1928, as Colonial Coach Lines Ltd., which ran buses between Renfrew, Ottawa, Morrisburg and Kingston, Ontario. In 1930 Colonial was purchased by the Provincial Transport Company, (la Compagnie de Transport-Provincial), which had been incorporated in November 1928 and acquired 31 bus lines in the Montreal area in June 1929. Colonial expanded during the 1930s and 1940s, acquiring many other operators, including the Toronto–Montreal Road Coach Line, the J. Gill Bus Line, Collacutt Coach Lines, Kawartha Lakes Coach Lines and Pony Bus Lines Ltd.

In Quebec, Provincial was affiliated with the Montreal Tramways Company until 1948. Operations included intercity bus service throughout the province and transit operations (through subsidiaries) in Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Kingston and elsewhere. In 1969, after 40 years of operation, all of Provincial Transport Enterprises' subsidiaries were unified under the Voyageur name. At the same time, Colonial Coach Lines was officially renamed Voyageur Colonial Ltd.

At various times Voyageur operated a number of subsidiaries, including Voyageur Abitibi (based in Val d'Or), Voyageur Inc., Voyageur Provincial (both headquartered in Montréal) and Voyageur Quebec. By 1981 the company was owned by Canada Steamship Lines Inc., 50% owned by Paul Martin's family. The Quebec routes were sold to other operators over the following decade, and in 1994 Greyhound purchased key Ottawa and Toronto routes from Voyageur. In 1998 CSL sold Voyageur to Greyhound Canada, which in turn is owned by the UK-based FirstGroup.