The title is the question. I hope it is a GQ and not an MPSIMS (it is certainly P).
Apologies in advance if (a) I’ve identified a trend or stereotype that is not borne out (why do all Mormons love cheez doodles?); or (b) there’s an easier answer somewhere (but Google gets flooded with static for, well, bus tours, in Quebec).
To be more specific about my question: when in the U.S. Northeast (Boston, Washington, N.Y.C.), I have seen what seemed to be a lot of Quebec-originated buses – nice, modern, sleek tour buses. That they’re from Quebec is fairly obvious from the company name (Les Voyageurs, etc.) and license plates.
I think I saw them significantly out of proportion to (a) tour buses from other regions that are a good bit closer by (for instance, I saw some Penna. buses in N.Y.C., but that’s in some cases a 90 minute ride away); or (b) the number of Quebec-plated cars I saw (of course, cars don’t also carry large French slogans on them, so maybe I missed a lot of those). I also think I saw more obviously-Quebec buses than obviously-Ontario buses.
Anyway, long story short, is there something in the average Quebecer’s soul that disproportionately makes him long to see the Northeastern U.S. (or, wherever else) specifically by tour bus (as opposed to flying, driving, etc.)? Or is this my selection bias at work?
Perhaps the foreign language on the side of the buses makes them stand out for you a bit more than English ones from Canada do? (Confirmation bias - I think?)
Wondered about that. Who knows whether Happytime Tours is from Hamilton or Honolulu (probably not the latter, I’ll admit), but there’s only one way you’ll see a bus with little accent marks all over it.
On the other question (regarding language proficiency and cultural comfort-zone), wiki has this to say:
I posted a question earlier asking why the majority of 18-wheelers from Canada I see on the roads in the Cleveland area are from Quebec trucking firms. The response was along the lines of “Maybe there’s some industry in Quebec whose products are in heavy demand by industry in the area” - that area industry receives just-in-time delivery of parts from suppliers in Quebec, and so on. That doesn’t explain why I don’t see many trucks from Ontario and the Maritimes, though; they’d have to pass through Cleveland if they entered the US via a crossing in Buffalo, and were going to the Midwest or parts of the Southeast.
I’m not aware of Quebecers being unusually fond of organized bus trips, but as a point of data, at my university I’ve seen more than once ads for bus trips to American cities (Boston or New York, for example) organized by the student associations. I’ve thought of buying a ticket for some of these trips, since the price is usually quite affordable, but usually I had something else planned. I don’t know if student associations in the rest of Canada or the US organize such trips as often, but I don’t see why they wouldn’t.
If organized bus trips are in fact more popular among Quebecers than among other North Americans (which I kind of doubt), this could be the reason. A rather large number of Quebecers are not entirely fluent in English – I think around 40 or 50% can really be said to be “bilingual” – but they want to visit the US anyway, so going as part of a group in which at least a few people are comfortable in English, even if there is no actual tour guide, makes the experience less scary. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily explain the ads at my university, since university-educated people are more likely to be fluent in English (and in other languages as well).
FWIW, Voyageurs is (or was; I don’t know about mergers) a major interurban bus company, à la Greyhound and Trailways, in eastern Canada and adjacent Quebec; a Voyageurs-run bus route from Montreal to Washington DC used to pass through my home town, in a cooperative arrangement with Greyhound (which owned franchise to much of the route).
Of the people I know who have taken organized bus trips like that, the main reasons were 1) cost and 2) language, with 1) far outweighing the importance of 2)! Most of the tour-bus taking people I know simply wanted a cheap get-away over a weekend, without having to drive (being students in Montreal, most don’t own cars) or pay for a plane flight. 5 hours on a bus to NYC, 3 nights, and 5 hours back for prices as low as 200$ is a very, very good deal.
The added convenience of having a tour representative who speaks English better is just a bonus (though among my acquaintances, less important since I mostly know people who went to English language schools in Quebec in the first place!)
As for trucking companies… this is a total WAG, and not even much of an educated WAG on the subject, but I have noticed that there are a LOT of transport trucks and companies based out of small, rural towns and villages. I’ve always assumed that for the cost of getting your truck driving permit, that would provide the opportunity for a young person to see a bit of the world (or at least province), make some decent money, and not have to go to Cegep or University, which would either require moving fairly far away from home ($$), commuting ($$), or paying tuition ($$!). Large companies like SGT seem to pay well enough for people to eventually buy their own cab, and either contract out or start their own 2-3 truck companies.
The other thing with trucking, is that Montreal is a bit of a dead end for a large amount of shipping routes: if the ships coming down the St Lawrence River are too large for the St Lawrence Seaway (canals), then the Port of Montreal is the final stop, and things have to switch to rail and/or road routes. Until the Seaway was opened, Montreal had a huge rail industry, but I think that has been replaced by trucks over the years. With Toronto, NYC, Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Washington and many more all within a day’s drive away, Montreal (and most of the populated area of Quebec) is pretty much ideally suited as a transport hub to those regions.
I’ve studied at universities in both Ontario and Alberta, and I’d have to say that in my experience, this is unusual. It’s not entirely unheard of–I do recall that a group of Fine Arts students at the U of Toronto would organize an annual bus trip to New York City to see the art museums there–but outside of a special reason such as the art trip, there didn’t seem to be any bus trips organized by the student associations.
This would seem to be the reason, at least, to me. It was easy enough for us English-speaking students to head off to the US for a getaway, and a number of us did: skiing in Vermont or Colorado, theatre in New York, and of course, mid-winter trips to Florida and California; but since language wasn’t a barrier to us, we could go on our own. It would seem reasonable to me that Quebec students groups (or other organizations, such as a seniors’ club), might feel more comfortable seeing the US as part of a bus tour, where English skills would not be needed to the extent that a solo traveller might need them.
I’m quite certain you do see a lot of trucks from Ontario; Ontario’s trucking industry is huge. As per the tour buses, it’s probably confirmation bias.
Both Quebec and Ontario have trucking industries out of proportion to their industrial bases, for a variety of reasons, most notably access to intermodal transport, centrality in the continent, and generally favourable regulations in those provinces.
You know, those buses aren’t always on a tour with a tour guide. It’s not only student groups that organize bus trips- it’s all sorts of groups. I’ve seen bus trips arranged by people at my job to shop in Reading (back when there were fewer outlet malls), or to Baltimore for a “crab feast”. Every year, I go to a bowling tournament in Rochester NY, and there are always buses in the parking lot. The bus company doesn’t organize the trip- a group of people organize their own trip and charter a bus. It’s got nothing to do with being more comfortable with some English speakers- everyone I work with speaks English, and the bowling groups are generally from the US. Mostly, it has to do with a large group of people who want to travel together, and not have to worry about driving (especially since the groups from my job start their drinking on the bus).
Oh, and just because the buses are from Quebec doesn’t mean the people are. I’ve been on charter trips leaving from NYC, where the buses came from NJ. There might be some advantage to a bus company operating out of Quebec rather than Ontario (taxes, insurance ,regulations ,etc)