August 17, 2013 -- Rising before sunrise, I walked the empty pre-dawn streets of Montreal to Gare d'autocars de Montréal (English: Montreal Coach Terminal). I was ready to take a Greyhound bus to Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario.
I have to say that compared to the many decrepit and chaotic bus stations south of the border, the Montreal bus station is clean, modern and well-lit with orderly lines to board the buses. The station opened December 8, 2011 at the corner of Berri Street and Ontario Street and connects to the Montreal Metro system's Berri-UQAM Station.
The Greyhound bus was also clean and modern with plenty of leg room and comfortable seats. After having taken so many low-fare buses from D.C. to NYC and back that are cramped and dirty, it was refreshing to take a bus ride with plenty of room.
The 200 km (124 miles) trip takes a little over two hours by bus along the highways of Quebec and Ontario provinces. Sadly there was a bad accident between a semi-truck and a car so the bus had to take a detour which added about 15 minutes to the trip. A CTV news crew was on the early morning scene to report on the accident. Other than that, there was hardly any traffic the whole way to Ottawa.
The Ottawa bus station is old and not as nice as the Montreal bus station. But it is an easy walk from the station to Parliament Hill and other Ottawa attractions.
Here are some more pictures of the Montreal Bus Station:
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