Pacific Western Transportation (also d/b/a P.W. Transportation) provides a variety of bus services in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Yukon. Depending on the location, it offers scheduled and chartered school busing, municipal transit and handi-bus services, airport passenger services and local and long-distance coach charters.[1]
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| Parent | Student Transportation Inc. |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1958 |
| Headquarters | 1857 Centre Avenue, S.E. |
| Locale | Calgary, Alberta |
| Service area | British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Yukon |
| Service type | intercity coach, charter coach, school bus, public transit, paratransit, airport express |
| Website | www |
Since 2022, it is a subsidiary of Student Transportation of America.[2] In July 2024, Keolis announced that it is acquiring PWT's Transit and Motorcoach operations.[3]
Lines of business
editPacific Western Transportation Group of Companies is separated into four operating divisions:
The PWT Motor Coach division provides intercity scheduled (retail) as well as commercial charter transportation across Alberta, specialized health transfer service in British Columbia, and airport passenger and charter transfer services in Ontario.
The PWT Employee division services Fort McMurray and the Athabasca oil sands in northern Alberta.
The PWT Student Transportation division operates in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Nova Scotia and Ontario.
The PWT Transit division operates in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
Motorcoach
editRed Arrow Motorcoach
editRed Arrow[4] provides inter-city coach transportation between Fort McMurray, Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Lethbridge, with a connecting shuttle bus to Calgary International Airport. In Ontario, Red Arrow offers a route from Toronto to Ottawa via Kingston. Red Arrow fleet consists of Prevost H3-45 coaches equipped as follows: wheelchair accessible, seat belts, Wifi, computer plug-ins and a snack galley on board.
Ebus
editEbus[5] service started on October 11, 2011, and operates Prevost H3-45 and X3-45 coaches. This subsidiary of Red Arrow travels between Edmonton, Red Deer, Fort McMurray and Calgary in Alberta as well as Kamloops, Kelowna and Vancouver in British Columbia. Service between Edmonton and Kamloops is provided through a partnership with Thompson Valley Charters.
BC Bus North
editBC Bus North[6] is an intercity bus service in northern British Columbia.
On-It Regional Transit
editOn-It Regional Transit[7] is a commuter bus service from Cochrane and Okotoks to Calgary, and seasonal service to Banff and Canmore.
Northern Health Connections
editNorthern Health Connections[8] joins remote communities in British Columbia to health facilities.
Employee transportation
editDiversified Transportation
editDiversified Transportation[9] is a bus transportation company based in Fort McMurray that provides services to industry and private coach charters as well as operating some local city transit systems.
Student transportation
editSouthland Transportation
editSouthland Transportation[10] is a Calgary based bus company that mainly provides school bus service to local school boards, bus charter services and commuter service from Cochrane and Okotoks to Calgary and also servicing northern Alberta from Edmonton, Cold Lake, etc. North Battleford is the location of the Southland operation in Saskatchewan providing school bus services to local school boards, and industrial and contract charters.
Prairie Bus Lines
editPrairie Bus Lines[11] is based in Red Deer and provides primarily school bus services as well as industrial and charter
Standard Bus
editStandard Bus[12] is based in British Columbia.
Former
edit
Airport Express
editPW Airport Express was purchased after the demise of Gray Coach, which had a franchise to operate a route to the Toronto Pearson International Airport. The service connects between selected downtown Toronto locations and Pearson Airport.
The Toronto Airport Express was discontinued on October 31, 2014, due to falling ridership and the anticipated opening of the Union Pearson Express, a rail link connecting the airport to downtown Toronto.
Porter shuttle
editPorter Airlines provides a shuttle bus service for its passengers between the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto and the ferry dock/passenger tunnel to the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (island airport). The service is operated by Pacific Western at 10-minute intervals using Thomas SLF buses. This service has stopped as of March 2020.
Highway 3 Connector
editHighway 3 Connector[13] was a commuter bus service from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat.
Incidents
edit- On December 24, 2022, an Ebus running from Kelowna to Vancouver rolled over killing 4 and sending 52 other people on board to hospital. The accident occurred on Highway 97C east of Merritt in the British Columbia Interior. The suspected cause of the accident was icy road conditions.[14]
References
edit- ^ PWT Calgary
- ^ "Student Transportation Expands Canadian Operations Through Major Acquisition".
- ^ "Keolis Signs Agreement to Acquire Key Business Lines of Pacific Western Transportation".
- ^ redarrow.ca
- ^ myebus.ca
- ^ bcbus.ca
- ^ onitregionaltransit.ca
- ^ nhconnections.ca
- ^ dtl.ca
- ^ southland.ca
- ^ prairiebus.com
- ^ standardbusbc.com
- ^ highway3connector.ca/
- ^ "RCMP say four killed in bus rollover on icy B.C. highway that sends 52 to hospital". Toronto Star. December 25, 2022.