They should have never killed off the rail service, the buses were supposed to be the replacement. It was the whole "the private sector can run it better attitude". Well the private sector ran it alright, into the ground. This will be the first time in modern history Nova Scotia and the Maritimes will have no full intercity transit system. What a disaster.

even though they have very limited service from the valley, its quite importantsince, although there are several shuttles, they are quite expensive and King's Transit only goes to a bit past Windsor in teh direction of Halifax. This is going to make it rough on many people.

This is so sad. ...how are students and people who can t afford cars to get around? Bus service is essential to these people. The Maritimes can t even support a bus system? We are pitiful :-(

Man you shut down for five months and then the ridership doesn't return! Harsh. Good news for people with a shuttle business though.

Lets get ready for the government handouts that are about to happen. The outcry is going to start and the demands will be to much leaving the taxpayers on the hook for keeping this private business going.

Good God -- the buses are disappearing in November, the train is only running three days a week, starting in November -- THIS IS YOUR WARNING, PEOPLE -- THE MARITIMES ARE SHUTTING DOWN. GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!

Having two of their buses land in a river (Baddeck and Monastery) in the last 4 years made it very difficult to keep the business "afloat".

My father has been driving for Acadian Lines for over 25 years, and over the years I've seen runs being dropped, terminals closed, but never did I think this was going to happen. I've known many friends over the years who knew my father as the guy that often brought them home from school for the long weekend or holidays, so what happens to them? Do students who go to school 2-3 hours drive from school not come home all year? Do they go further into debt having to buy their own vehicle, or spend thousands of dollars in gas for the vehicle they already own?
Even folks that have to travel to the big city's from their hometown for medical expertise, do they now have to shell out, or do they forego the trip and help they sorely need?
And of coarse, I think it goes without saying, what about the employees, many of whom have invested a good deal of their lives to this company, now face the unemployment line, finding work outside the maritmes, or possibly even a total change of career? I sincerely hope the government steps in to save these jobs, considering regulations forcing the company to continue service to non-profitable routes is one of many factors contributing to the current situation. Subsidizing and/or working with the company could be the difference between saving jobs and continuing a much needed service to people of the maritimes, or watching the end of intercity transit on most of the east coast.

Just another company brought down by a union strike and archaic government regulations. There is good demand in Atlantic Canada for a good interprovincial city bus service network and Acadian Lines was/is fully capable of providing that service.
When a person catchs a flight out west, they are normally driven directly to Stanfield. Small town, full size bus service to Halifax effectively became uneconomical decades ago. Regulations requiring Acadian to maintain bus service to provincial outposts in both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia should have died at the same time.
Want to board a reliable interprovincial bus: you go to a major center to catch one. We already do it for air flights but a bus is a lot more economical to many for short distances.
Some quality bus service in Atlantic Canada is better then none!

Yeah maybe, but not so much for the people who can't afford to pay the bill (which will likely be higher than Acadian Lines).

I am just absolutely disgusted with the NDP (and the city of Halifax for that matter). I have never seen such a brutal assault on public transportation in all my years.

This at a time when the global warming special interest pressure on the public is at an all time high. Seriously, even if we wanted to use public transportation to be green we couldn't because it NO LONGER EXISTS.

I mean what is this government trying to do? Make it so that people are forced into the city (which most people actually wouldn't do if they had the choice)...and then cut off all exits in the province so that there's no way we can leave? Is that our idea of living green?

In my opinion, the death nell ringeth for this province. There has never been more reasons to leave then there are now.

If I had it to do over again, I would NEVER have dropped anchor here.

I'm sorry for the people who will lose jobs, and for those who depend on these buses, but we in the Maritimes have made our choice. VIA rail could not make money here, our small provincial airlines couldn't make money here, and now Acadian Lines can't make money here. This is now the absolute centre of the car culture in Canada. The car rules all here. No one wants to use the Halifax Ferries, our bus system is underutilized, and few people bike. No way to escape it - in Nova Scotia and the Maritimes in general, the CAR is KING.

I hope this is not the start of worst things to come.The way of life we took for granite,is coming to a end.

Unacceptable situation! Totally ridiculous. Third World countries have more than the majority of residents in NS. Trains, planes and buses either not existing or too expensive.

There is breakdown between what the riders are willing to pay to travel and what is a reasonable wage to pay employees to operate these kinds of services. It seems to me that the current situation for Acadia lines is a combination of too little being paid for a ticket and too much being demanded for salary (with respect to the value of service) - that's not a recipe for a successful business. Regarding rail travel and the dayliners (man I miss those), which I thought of first when I read this, the added cost of aging privately owned infrastructure makes the situation worse (for instance, think of the cost of maintaining the Bear River Bridge on the DAR)

This just proves that the free-market fetishists are off their rockers. If the market can't support a bus line, then it is the responsibility of the public sector to pick up the slack. As it was BEFORE they slashed all the trains. I don't mean to say I told ya so, but...

What a surprise this is, well not really...people that commented on this so far do not understand how this could happen. This demise has nothing to do because it was a company out of province....please be realistic, the ridership was getting lower every year since it was sold to that company combine with price of gas, repairs, accidents due to bad bus drivers ( ah lot's of people don't want to remember the numerous incidents of the past) etc.... It's all about business pure and simple but don't worry the trains are waiting.... unless someone has a good and strong business plan...

So, the Utilities And Review Board(UARB) didn't have something to do with this did they? Back in 2010, "The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has denied Acadian Lines' request to discontinue some of its rural bus routes in the province...the board ruled that it is not losing money on its Annapolis Valley route" Right, bureaucrats on the UARB know better than the guy who runs the business. Sure they do.
AND just check this out - Herald,July 30, 2012 "Molega Tours Ltd. asked the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board in May for permission to acquire a pair of new 56 or 58-passenger buses.
But the board rejected the plan in a decision Monday, saying there isn’t enough business in the motor coach industry to support two additional coaches"
In the Acadia Lines decision, they say they Lines are making lots of money. Those are the guys who are pulling out because of lack of money.In the Molega decision they say that they won't make any money. Do you suppose the Molega operators know their own busines, and if they do go belly-up, it is their money, why would we care?
Sounds like we have way too many rules and regulations, and bureaucrats, in this province for our own good. Right, what else is new.
And these are the guys who are going to rule on the Newpage operations, as well as the Muskrat Falls fiasco. Heaven help us.

Gorup Orrleans Express is just another Quebec based company that tossed yet another Maritime business into the dumpster.

The drivers in NB were getting greedy by wanting the same amount of pay an hour as the drivers in Quebec get and than the NS drivers would of asked for the same as NB drivers. They do nothing for work like the workers in Quebec do. The drivers and workers at Acadians Lines makes more than most people that have worked for years at a company. You start well above minimum wage and get a raise every 6 months. How can a company make money to keep the business going when the workers are always asking more and more money and above what they deserve? Sorry to hear that Acadian Lines is closing and affecting many people in the Maritimes but the drivers and workers have to look at themselves and see that they are partly to blame for this. Shame on you for being money grabbers and being part of the reason why this company has to close and hurt many people with travel.

Although DRL Coachlines, a Newfoundland and Labrador based bus service, has a poor reputation due to frequent mechanical problems, perhaps they should buy Acadia Lines from Groupe Orleans and continue to run bus service in the Maritime Provinces.

That way, it will keep bus service and ownership in the Atlantic Provinces instead of Quebec.

Wonder how long will it take before Dexter starts to throw our money at this company.

I am hoping that something happens before November and that they change their minds. I have Multiple Sclerosis and my medication comes down to me on the bus. It comes from VG Pharmacy and I rely on the buses to take it down to Cape Breton. But it won't only hurt me it will hurt a lot of other people relying on the bus for transportation!!!

It is not the government's responsibility to make sure there is a means of transportation from the various centres around Nova Scotia.

If the hidebound out of date regulations of NS force a bus route to exist even though it was unprofitable (the same happened for the DAR passenger service from Truro to the valley in the 1970s), it is hard to blame the company for pulling out completely. It is also unacceptable if the same "questionable value" regulations prohibit someone from buying more buses to expand service or develop competition. If I want to buy 23 buses and open routes that make no or superb economic sense, it's my money to lose - the government should have nothing to say about it aside from basic licensing, accessibility and safety matters.

Looking at the human cost, none of this eases the sting of loss of access for those, clearly a minority, who depend on the service. But there is no such thing as "fair", especially in an economic backwater like Nova Scotia.

As with the trains, the bus service would not be cancelled if the majority of people had followed this simple rule - use it or lose it. Looking to the long term good for Nova Scotia, as opposed to today's urgencies, driven by yesterday's priorities, it would be best if public money is not used to prop up what has proven to be a failed service.

The reason why the business is dying and not just with the Acadian Lines is because we're losing too many people out of the province. And who can blame them? There's better weather, better employment, less violent cities for your children...anywhere else but here. If you could easily leave and take your best friends and favorite relatives with you...wouldn't you go too? What's stopping me?

And frankly, I'm d***ed surprised the bus line lasted this long. The last time I used A.L. to travel to Halifax was back in the mid 80's when you could still afford them at $40-50. They hiked up the prices to $75 in the late 80s and suddenly it became more cheaper to hire someone to drive you up...until I could turn 16 and drive a car.

Nov 30 seems like they have left themselves time to do the deal - try to force the gov to put up money. If business was so bad they would shut the doors now. This just another attempt to force us all to pay. Well I will now stop for hitch-hikers. Only took the bus once and that was enough, as for those vans they look over loaded und unsafe.

Nova Scotia and the Maritimes has a small, and fragmented population. Most people have a car through necessity, therefore the reliance on a service like Acadian lines is dwindling. Its easy to point fingers at businesses, but lets face it if they were making money hand over fist, they would keep the service going. Its the Age old mentality of this province to complain about losing something, when you yourself didn't use the service. I hear the comments from The Transit union, but let me ask Mr. Glenn Carr; How many time he used the bus service in the last 10 years? We are still a very small market, and it hard to keep a multi Province bus service afloat with our small Population.

The Maritimes should all form ONE province....Atlantica would be a nice name....our small numbered individual provinces are falling apart.

If you're wondering why Groupe Orleans Express/Acadian Lines struggled to make money in Nova Scotia, blame it on the outdated Motor Carrier Act and Utility and Review Board.

As you know, the Motor Carrier Act and Utility and Review Board tell bus and other mass transit providers how to run their bus services, and even planned routes are regulated as you can't travel any way you want.

Maybe if Bus Operators are not told how to run their business, and allowed to adjust their routes anytime they want to meet current demands, Acadian Lines will not be in this situation.

I should point out that the Nova Scotian Government didn't just screw up Acadian Lines, they also screwed up Newfoundland based "Party Bus" whom try to have their popular bus service in Nova Scotia, but greedy Limousine Drivers and heavy handed Utility and Review Board stopped it.

As a result of Acadian Lines and "Party Bus" demises, the outdated Motor Carrier Act and Utility and Review Board are the root of the problem.

Let Mrs Jessome and her N.S.G.E.U. followers purchase and run the bus service. It is their mantra that the province of Nova Scotia would be dead in the water without their members presence and buying power. She could also dictate that all members ride the bus rather and take their cars, heck even the deputy premier could take the bus to Cape Breton instead of that wimpy Air Canada Jazz bucket of bolts he likes to patronize. Win win all around, it is also called putting your money where your mouth is. I expect no takers, talk is cheap, private business requires action and profit, totally off the radar for governments and government munchkins.

Profitable routes funding non-profitable routes doesn't make sense when ridership is at an all time low and your paying for full-size buses and expensive fuel. Now you'll see a lot more smaller (and cheaper) shuttle services popping up all over the maritimes.

why would a business run up a $12 million problem and take 8 years to do something about it?

It's quite obvious all you folks stating that Nova Scotians don't have as much as people in third world countries have never been to one. I believe the smart business people in the area will devise a plan to ensure profitable routes will be serviced. As for the routes that don't make a profit, transportation isn't free, and it's not a right.

no more cheap long bus rides to quebec & beyond! not happy with the decision. maritimers need a buyer right away. to keep the service the going. what are seniors, students, rural resdents are are going to do ? also with via rail to reduse it's service to 3 days a week in october instead what it was of 6 days a week. cheaper transportion seems to yesterday's news.

i see typical east coast mentally, people against each other no pride no nothing. the savor is the shipbuliding contract maybe? in the last 10 years nova scotia has loss it's mojo. as a province no leadership and negitive people. hope maybe the future can brighter? or consider change?

This is a chance for enterprising souls to fill the gap. Get a passenger van and start your own service. It would be cheaper to have a family run smaller business servicing individual areas where you know your ridership/delivery routes.

It seems quite fitting that when you have a socialist, pro-union government running a province with a union/government-handout mentality and a stifling regulatory environment, where everyone expects something for nothing, blah, blah, blah ... that privately-held businesses run for the door; not to mention anyone with an ounce of incentive and work ethic will also head for the door ....

Culture of defeat?? ... Harper hit the nail on the head, yet again.

This province has become a real $hithole.

Acadien Lines going out of business is not the result of a Quebec based company owning it. It's a result of not being able to be profitable and run the business properly. If a route is not profitable and the province tells them they have to kepp it, than that's government control at it worse. At a minimum the province should have to subsidize the company for keeping that route; and I'm the last person to support a gov't handout. The Provincial Regulators in NS are killing the province. It's time to throw them out and let businesses operate properly without unnecessary government controls. Everything the NS governement puts their grubby hands on or controls on has failed...wake up.